


The New Blood

by agaseus



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cussing, Friendship, Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 04:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7876660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agaseus/pseuds/agaseus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As always, the Varia is bound to the Vongola by family, but defiantly autonomous without fail. The Vongola Ninth has found his successor in Sawada Tsunayoshi, and Xanxus remains as the head of the Varia. However, when the thought of searching for a successor to the Vongola’s Independent Assassination Squad is brought up, surprisingly, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea for the Varia’s Boss. Just as long as she keeps the Varia esteemed and doesn’t bow down to the Vongola Tenth Generation. </p><p>[TYL!Varia + Fem!Reader friendships]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Successor

**Author's Note:**

> I was actually encouraged to post this story here (it's originally on quotev), so I decided that I would put it up and see what happens. It's mainly going to center around platonic relationships of the Varia and a age 16-17 reader, as well as expand on some thoughts that I have about the Varia (like. . . their capabilities and intelligence as assassins, and the fact that they're probably really smart. They're an elite assassination squad, but I feel like they weren't given that much development and time in the manga/anime).
> 
> So I have quite a few footnotes sometimes, and they tend to be pretty long. You don't have to read them if you don't want to, but they're mainly just for explaining what my thought process was for some character's actions or of the like.
> 
> [1]: I was thinking TYL!Xanxus is a lot less volatile than his present self, which would show in his not getting pissed about Squalo’s bringing up the fact that they aren’t invincible. I’m pretty sure Xanxus knows that humans are infallible, but it doesn’t mean that he won’t take great pride in his own abilities. I don’t find that he would oppose looking for a successor for the Varia as long as the person was up to the standards set. And he would probably play a big role in deciding whether or not that person would be quality; after all, this is his position that the person would be taking over. I honestly don’t think that he would care if the successor would be a woman either; he might have some qualms at first, but he doesn’t seem judgmental towards other based on gender. Look at Lussuria—Xanxus obviously doesn’t care if he’s openly gay or not. I feel that Xanxus is a character who finds the worth of others based on skill, not appearances.
> 
> There’s a lot more to Xanxus’s character than the series lets on, and it makes me really sad that a lot of people just see Xanxus as an eternally angry but really powerful guy. This tumblr post (http://insanescriptist.tumblr.com/post/136522442112/character-musings-2) actually really got me into looking at his character a lot more and sort of brought about this new fic?? It’s really insightful, and you should totally check it out‼

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xanxus figures that having some new blood in the Varia could work out in his favor.

With a relatively vehement sigh, Squalo traversed the halls of the Varia’s Headquarters and started towards his boss’s office. He was going to deliver his reports on one of the latest missions that he had embarked on and completed—as was standard custom—but he also had something else he wanted to bring up to Xanxus. Clutching a couple pieces of paper in his right hand, Squalo stopped in front of Xanxus’s work room and knocked on its door.

“Voiii, Boss,” Squalo called out as he lazily held his mechanized hand against his hip.

“What, trash.”

Knowing that Xanxus was asking him to come inside, Squalo pushed open the door and took a couple strides to the table behind which his boss was working. The white-haired swordsman set the papers in his hand on the stack of completed files sitting on the corner of Xanxus’s desk, and then he collapsed onto one of the plush armchairs in the room.

Xanxus barely lifted his crimson eyes from the sheets of paper he was writing on, but he knew that Squalo wanted to speak about something. Not bothering to stop the movements of his pen, Xanxus ordered shortly, “Talk.”

For a moment, Squalo remained silent and then sighed. He ran a few fingers through his locks, and he finally managed to say, “I know you might not like hearing this, but I think we should start looking for a successor.”

Now this topic caught his boss’s attention, and he ceased in writing. “Explain,” Xanxus demanded curtly, his eyes now trained on Squalo’s form.

“The old man got that Sawada brat,” elaborated Squalo with a scowl, “and no matter how capable _we_ fucking are, the Varia’ll go to shit if after we die, there’s scum who’s going to take over. Especially if that loser pipsqueak tried to install some new weak-ass boss for the Varia.”

“The hell will that brat get a choice in deciding who the hell’s taking over after me,” growled Xanxus, tossing aside the pen that had been in his hand. Instead, he picked up his glass of wine and then queried, “What made you start thinking about this?” 

“It’s been ten damn years since everything went down,” Squalo answered, considerably quietly, even though he had could have been much louder. “We’re not going to die in a fight—like hell we would—but there’re things that we can’t control.”

Xanxus said nothing after hearing his second-in-command out, and he set his wine back onto the table. [1] He seemed to be contemplating what Squalo had revealed, and there was truth to the Sword Emperor’s observations. Xanxus knew what he was capable of—and sure, he had an impressive number of skills—but defying death was not something he could accomplish, for sure. With a soft grunt, the Varia’s boss propped one of his elbows onto his desk and leaned a cheek against one of his fists.

“It’s not that I don’t think we’re good enough—because we sure as hell are—but we don’t know what’s going to happen after us,” reiterated Squalo as he folded his hands behind his head while lying back on the chair.

Snorting, Xanxus retorted impatiently, “Yeah, _I know_.” 

Squalo let out a light sigh and made a move to stand up. He didn’t say anything more and headed for the office’s exit. For now, he’d give Xanxus his space and if he needed him, then he would ask. Squalo had only wanted to introduce the idea to Xanxus, but he knew that his boss wouldn’t mull over the thought forever. Xanxus would answer him soon enough.

However, before Squalo departed the room, Xanxus stated, “Hey, trash.”

“Hn?” The white-haired man turned back to look at his boss.

Slowly, a smirk rose to Xanxus’s face, and the Varia’s leader spoke. 

“Doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. As long as the next one doesn’t take shit from that Sawada brat and his little ‘friends,’” Xanxus announced, setting one of his conditions already. “The Varia’s not going to fucking bow down to Sawada, even after I’m dead.”

A grin, derisive and smug, was on Squalo’s lips as he agreed, “That’s what I was thinking too.”


	2. First Stages of Recognition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When [Name] is pulled from class, perhaps she is getting into much more than she actually realizes.

The two long-time Varia members—Boss and Strategy Captain—strutted onto the campus of the mafia school Squalo had attended when he was younger. Normally, Xanxus wouldn’t be showing his face outside of the Varia’s Headquarters much, and he’d much rather have his grunts do the work, but this was something that he had to really do himself.

As Squalo and Xanxus crossed the threshold of the school’s estate, the white-haired swordsman thought about the chances of finding a good enough successor for the Varia. Since the Independent Assassination Squad had recruited many of its underlings from various mafia schools around Italy, Squalo had confidence that perhaps there would be someone competent to lead the Varia. He could assume that most of these students weren’t quite yet “Varia Quality,” but if they proved worthy enough, he was sure that in time and with immense training, they would live up to the name. For the past few weeks, they’d already travelled to other institutions set up for training and educating mafia children, and overall, Squalo didn’t seem too impressed by the pupils he’d come across when searching. There were a couple who were promising, and Squalo indeed kept their information recorded, but there was no harm in checking out the school he went to for more auspicious candidates.

For the most part, the Varia worked on its own schedule, and it ran according to its own rules. If the Varia wanted something done, the members would accomplish it without fail, and whenever they felt the need to do it. As Squalo and Xanxus marched into the mafia school, they had no qualms with walking in unannounced. They’d get what they wanted, that was assured. 

Squalo stopped for a moment to glance at the map posted on one of the walls near the entrance of the building, and then he and Xanxus walked inside the school. Fortunately, the students were in their classes, so the few people whom they encountered were only startled staff members who hastily scuttled out of their way. A couple flights of stairs up, Squalo and Xanxus were facing the door to the principal’s office. The former of the pair didn’t waste time in knocking, and the Varia members intruded nonchalantly.

“Oh my—this is—” Clearly distraught, the principal rapidly stood up from his seat and set down his pen. He lowered his eyes in deference for a moment and then spoke somewhat apprehensively, “Ah, the Varia… This truly is an honor…”

With a casual air of indifference, Squalo surveyed the relatively young man—he couldn’t be past thirty—who was stuttering over his words in front of him. The Sword Emperor didn’t know him; he supposed that the old principal who had served when Squalo was at the school had retired by now. A shame, as the two Varia of the highest position could have gotten what they’d wanted much faster with a familiar face in charge.

“What can I do for you?” The principal reached out a hand to perhaps greet the assassins, but then thought the better of it and retracted his limb. “I’m Basilio Acciai by the way.”

The Varia in the room, however, said nothing to introduce themselves. Squalo was the only one who seemed to have a reaction, albeit minute. He stiffly nodded his head in the slightest manner, but Xanxus retained a neutral and rather unconcerned expression. They were used to having people be awed—mainly in terror—of their presence. The principal didn’t bother trying to confirm that these two were _actually_ from the Varia. He’d heard enough about the Varia’s leader—brooding, his red eyes glowing with fury underneath the apathy, and the aura of sheer power radiating from him—and the Sword Emperor, his appearance clearly defined by no shortage of pride and the long white hair trailing down his back. The men standing before him were, sure enough, the pair at the top of the Varia.

“We’re looking for new recruits,” [1] explained Squalo, crossing his arms. “You got names of your top students?”

Nodding, Acciai seemed to regain his composure a little, and he turned back to his desk and opened one of its drawers. “Ah, yes. My predecessor of the school told me it would be expected that the Varia might choose some of our students to join its ranks…”

Xanxus boredly tucked his hands into his pockets as Squalo snorted almost inaudibly at the principal. At least that saved them a little trouble of explaining much of the reason behind their visit.

“I know we had final exams just last week,” murmured Acciai as he shuffled through a couple folders standing upright, “so you chose a rather good time to visit. School rankings had been posted a few days ago…”

“Yeah? Thought so,” Squalo mused with a small smirk. He’d done his research; he knew what he was doing.

The principal pulled out a couple files and flicked through them briefly before holding out some sheets of paper towards the alumnus. “Here are the names and some other information.”

Taking the leaflets, Squalo scanned over the words and then passed the documents to his boss, who also cast the text a fleeting look. The two momentarily exchanged a glance, and then Squalo commanded, “Call the first five up here.”

“Right away,” acknowledged Acciai as he fumbled for the phone resting on his desk. He picked up a second copy of the papers he had handed to Squalo and then pressed a couple buttons on the dialing pad. The principal decided it would be better to make five separate calls to the classrooms in which each of the students were instead of announcing the Varia’s demands schoolwide. He was sure that they wouldn’t appreciate that, for it clashed with their primarily secluded nature.

“Yes, hello…”

* * *

You kept your pencil poised above your notebook, and you diligently pressed lead to paper whenever your professor spoke. In actuality, you were relatively interested in what your instructor had to say about box animals and weapons, for you’ve always wanted one of your own.

“Box animals and weapons, as we know, are of highly complex technology and reactive to the seven flames. The material used for their construction has been shown to be quite responsive in absorbing the tangible wave energy of humans, and therefore, people are able to open the boxes. However”—your teacher pointed at the diagram on the whiteboard at the head of the class—“very few people are actually capable of releasing the power of such weapons. They are restricted to people with a generally adequate, and most of the time, excellent control over their flames as they are able to channel them through the use of rings.”

He then paced through the rows of desks filled with students. You took the opportunity to make a hasty sketch of the box depicted up front, and then you scrawled a couple notes beside it. 

“The scientist who invented box weapons was named Geppetto Lorenzini,” explained your professor, “and he made the blueprints for them over four hundred years ago. Quite the accomplishment for his time.”

Continuing his rounds of the classroom, he queried while resting his hands in his pockets, “Does anyone know about how many he designed?”

Your brows scrunched together as you thought for a moment; you’d read that in last week’s assignment of pages from your textbook… Unfortunately, you could only recall a general number, but regardless, your hand went up in the air. 

“[Last Name]?” Your professor turned to you expectantly.

“Uh, around three hundred and forty?” you responded, a hint of uncertainty in your voice. 

He nodded his head, and when you glanced at your teacher, a small, approving smile was on his face. “That’s about right. It’s three hundred and forty-three. Now, although Lorenzini was the one who was responsible for the _thought_ behind box weapons, he wasn’t able to turn them into reality, for they were considered ‘Over-Technology’ by the people he worked for. Can someone please define ‘Over-Technology’ for me?”

Before your professor could call on someone to answer his question, the phone in the room rang, and some of the students jolted in their seats. Your teacher picked up the device and offered a short salutation into the receiver.

“Yes… I can do that.” It was only a matter of seconds before he set the phone back into its original position and then walked towards his desk. He plucked a post-it note from a stack and then quickly wrote a few words on it. Raising his head, he swept his gaze over the class, and you froze in your seat when he beckoned you forward.

You could feel the other students’ inquisitive glances on your back as you took the square of paper from his hand and examined what he had written on it. 

With a pat to your shoulder, your professor grinned at you encouragingly and then murmured, “Well off you go!”

Inclining your head slightly, you then walked out of the room calmly. Once you were alone in the hallway with the classroom’s door shut behind you, however, you read the note again.

_“[First Name] [Last Name]. Please report to the principal’s office. And no, you’re not in trouble.”_

You scratched your head and then started up the stairs towards your right.

“Huh. Wonder what he wants.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: As much as some people might think that Squalo is pretty “stupid” or an “idiot” because he can be quite irritably loud, I don’t find him to be. There’re reasons why he’s the Varia’s Strategy Captain and reasons why he earned his place as the Sword Emperor, and they do reflect his intelligence. He has to be pretty smart to figure out the best ways a mission to be planned, and he’s pretty analytical; after all, he could simply see through Chrome’s illusion of Yamamoto (during the Inheritance Arc) without difficulty.
> 
>  
> 
> So, I really don’t think that Squalo would just straight-up say, “The Varia needs a successor.” Instead, he’d much rather say that the Varia is looking for new recruits because that would seem normal. After all, if he’d been involved with the process of getting students from his old school into the Varia, it would be a pretty regular occurrence for the people there. And the Varia operates on a very secretive level, so of course, the elite—even now, just Squalo and Xanxus—wouldn’t want people to know that they were priming someone to become the next Varia Boss. Who knows what kind of disturbances they’d have to put up with? The Varia’d like to keep everything about them reclusive, and that would also include searching for a successor.


	3. The Process of Weeding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In no way whatsoever was [Name] prepared to find two of the Varia’s elite at her mafia academy. She can’t quite understand why they’re here, though.

As your leather boots, complete with laces and zippers, clacked against the marble steps, you headed up towards the principal’s office. You’d only been there a couple times before, not because you had been a reprehensible student, but for the reception of a few awards. This was your third year of being in the top ten students of the school, and you’d like to keep it that way. Adjusting your navy blue tie and plucking at the edges of your black vest, you then brushed your hands against your gray pants. Once you figured that you looked sharp enough, you knocked against the principal’s door.

“Come in.” You walked into the room, but you were thoroughly shocked to find more than just three other students and the head of the school also there. Hastily, you kept your surprise hidden after the minute widening of your eyes, and you bowed your head lightly in respect. You didn’t bother to stare at the other men in the room, and you knew better than to openly express your curiosity as to who they were. There was an air about them that made you steer clear of trying to stealthily peek in their direction.

When one other pupil joined you in the principal’s office, you risked a glance over all the people present. You could only see that the two strangers were tall, confident, and well-aware of the universal anxiety that filled the others in the room.

“These are our top five students,” announced the principal, waving a hand towards you and the other four teens. He smiled thinly at your group and then requested politely, “If you could line up from left to right in descending order, please…”

You and your companions wasted no time in hurrying into the formation asked of you, and you kept your eyes pointed towards the ground. You knew the other students, for the most part, and one of them you shared a couple classes with, but you didn’t try to communicate with him at all.

“We have Alinari first, Monti, [Last Name], Falco, and then Albero,” Acciai introduced you to the unknown men by surnames.

The white-haired man was the first one to make a move, and he walked towards the top of your line. He cast a glance back at all of you, and then he questioned, “Voii, they still based on combat and smarts?”

Acciai nodded his head in affirmation and suggested, “If you look at the chart beside their names, then you’ll see their respective scores in each category and class that they took this year.”

Squalo pointed his gaze to the papers in his hand, and then he stared at the students once again. _“So,”_ he noticed and reported to himself, _“the third is the smartest in comparison to the first two, but her skills in combat aren’t as good as the others. I’ll have to see for myself.”_ After all, skills in combat were sometimes subjective towards the person watching.

Your hands began to sweat lightly as you kept them loosely at your sides, and despite wanting to appear nonchalant, you were concerned with what these strangers were doing here. The one with the ruby-colored eyes, although silent, looked immensely strong without a doubt; it was obvious that he and the white-haired man were from the mafia, but you weren’t sure from which organization.

“Is there a training room available?” asked Squalo gruffly as he walked back to Xanxus’s side. 

The principal lifted a few papers that had been tacked to the billboard behind him. He was somewhat astounded that the Varia was meaning to test his students; he’d heard that they didn’t normally assess the pupils directly. They’d watch over their school training and then pick recruits, but they had never actively participated in testing them. Acciai wondered what would cause the change this time, but nonetheless, he informed them, “Yes, you can take one of the training rooms above ground. 802 is right down the hall, and it should be available for the rest of the day.”

With a smirk, the white-haired man opened the door to the office and followed his companion out of the room. “Follow.”

You and the other students didn’t waste a second in trailing behind the two men even though you all had no clues as to who they were and why they were ordering you after them. None of you even questioned why the principal hadn’t elaborated on their plans either. If they really were of the mafia—which in your mind, they most certainly were—they had their reasons, and your principal must have approved somehow. Honestly though, you didn’t think that his consent mattered much, for the two strangers looked absolutely domineering and could’ve bullied Acciai into it.

While pacing after the two men, you and Alinari locked gazes, and the male student lifted his hands in confusion. You nodded your head in agreement, and then you examined the strangers walking ahead of you. They were wearing similar clothing, white button-ups, black leather jackets—although the man with the dark hair had his draped over his shoulders—and ebony pants. They didn’t have any insignias on their clothes, but you assumed they had done so in the name of secrecy. Before you knew what was going on and halting in the last of your observations, you were ushered inside of Training Room 802.

As you and the four other students were lined up once again, the white-haired man pronounced, quite stridently, “Voii! You pipsqueaks might be the top of your class, but I’ll be the one to see about that!”

“Get swords,” Squalo ordered briskly as he picked up one of the weapons behind him. You snagged one from the barrel yourself and tossed the sheath back inside, then returned to your place once the other students gathered their own.

 _What were you even doing?_ You were feeling somewhat distraught by not knowing what the point of arming yourself like this was. Who were these people? Were they going to be new staff members or something? Were they even going to tell you all who they were? You had too many questions which needed answers. 

“Alinari!” called the white-haired man as he twirled the sword in his hand. 

The male who had been addressed looked back at you four for a second and then hurried a few meters forward. “Yes, sir?”

The poor teen had almost no time to raise his own weapon when the white-haired man’s was being brought down overhead. Taken by surprise, Alinari struggled to parry the attack, and he barely managed to push back and jump away. The dark-haired brunette was obviously stunned by the suddenness of the man’s actions, and you felt your own heart rate increasing. You didn’t glance at the other students, but you could sense that they were shocked as well. Were you all going to be fighting against the mysterious, rather boisterous man? 

Your attention was drawn back to the fight when Alinari let out a relatively loud yelp. It seemed that he had been struck in the shoulder after trying to maneuver his way around the white-haired man. Alinari rolled out of the way of the man’s next slash, and then he stood up again, ready to defend himself. He had no intentions of initiating aggression after witnessing what his adversary could do. 

Without any hesitation, the man charged forward and slashed from his right and left, his attacks slicing through the air. Immediately, your eyes widened, and you began searching through your memory as you thought about where you’d seen and heard about such familiar movements before. Alinari was trying his hardest to block the man’s strikes, and he was barely able to stop himself from being slashed to pieces. Were these people trying to _kill_ you? When he was reduced to kneeling on the ground, his breath coming up short and his clothes tattered with bloodstains, the white-haired man stopped his offensive. Alinari, despite being the best swordsman of your group, was defeated. 

It was when the man, with long, prominent white tresses, stood to his full height and his sword hung loosely from his left hand, did you recognize who he was. You should have known from the start that this man was none other than the Sword Emperor himself. You’d studied briefly about who he was during one of your advanced level classes on different kinds of blades. His attack—the Scontro di Squalo—which you now realized, was perfectly executed, and it had been completely authentic. You had to say that you were in awe of being able to see it performed flawlessly.

As you pieced together that this was indeed Superbi Squalo in front of you, you found your gaze drifting to the man seated across the room. If Squalo was a part of the Varia, then that meant…

 _“Xanxus, the Boss of the Varia?”_ you thought dubiously to yourself as your [e/c] optics focused on the wooden sword in your hand. There was no doubt; he looked like the descriptions that you’d heard about. The distinct red eyes and the flecks of darker skin, marking the scars he’d received…

Now you were really wondering why the Varia was at your school.

Instinctively, your group had moved towards one of the walls of the room, which was a good forty meters from where Squalo and Alinari had been fighting. Your hands grasped the hilt of your sword, and you blinked a couple times as you thought about having to take on the Sword Emperor. It was somewhat daunting, but at least he didn’t look like he was out to kill anyone.

“Monti, next!” Squalo glared at your group’s direction as Alinari stumbled back towards you. The white-haired man’s grin grew when he saw his next opponent approaching him. You felt as if the Sword Emperor would just be plowing through all five of you without any troubles at all.

“Maybe you’ll be a challenge, brat,” taunted Squalo as he slashed the space in front of him. You thought to yourself, what would the point be in killing you if you were clearly outclasses by a master of the sword? Unless he was holding back just to test you?

Choosing wisely not to respond, Monti held her sword to the side and closed her eyes. The ring on her right middle finger flashed purple, and she lifted a hand in front of her face. The purple flames erupted all around her, and her image began to shimmer slightly. You had a feeling you knew what was coming, but you kept your suspicions to yourself. After all, you’d seen Monti use this technique before, but you weren’t completely certain that she would do it right now.

Squalo raised one of his brows and exclaimed, “Voii, hurry up and attack already!” He had to admit; this girl seemed to have quite a bit of energy if she could manipulate her flames like that.

Monti opened her blue eyes and then brandished her sword. She started to run forward, and in a couple of steps, her image split into two. 

“Ah, so she was planning to use the propagation technique,” mused Albero as Monti began her attack against Squalo, “to do that cloning thing.” 

“It’s not really cloning, per say,” corrected Falco, the girl placing a hand on her chin while she watched Monti. “Well it _is_ to some extent, but she’s more or less just propagating her image instead of her actual body. That takes way too much energy and flames, and no one’s ever done that before.”

You grimaced. “It doesn’t look like it’s helping her much.”

“Well, you’re right about that,” agreed Alinari as he sat down beside the three of you. “She’s getting pummeled.”

True enough, Squalo, over his initial surprise of Monti’s flames’ producing such an effect, was able to see that she was merely doubling her image. It struck him as being similar to illusions, but he didn’t care much for the difference as he struck her down with quick paralysis—thanks to his Attacco di Squalo—and a kick to the gut. She fell to the ground with a harsh smack, and you and your companions cringed.

“That was somewhat interesting,” admitted Squalo as he allowed Monti to force herself to her feet. “You’re finished girl, so don’t even bother. Next, Albero!”

Albero sighed and rested his sword on his shoulder. “Looks like it’s my turn to be destroyed. I don’t even use swords.”

While Monti collapsed next to Alinari against the wall, Falco spun her sword in her hand. “This is actually kind of scaring me. I wonder why they’re making us do this.”

It wasn’t even a few minutes before Albero returned, cradling his dominant arm and cursing. “What the hell _is_ that guy? He’s ridiculously strong. What’s he getting out of beating up some mafia kids?”

As you weren’t completely sure about the two Varia members’ aims, you said nothing. You just continued to watch as Falco was called up next, and you prepared yourself to see another of your comrades go down. Monti seemed as if she was going to say something, but instead, she kept her mouth shut and neglected to respond to Albero. Perhaps she had also come to the same conclusion you had. 

“Voiii! What the fuck are you doing, trash?” shouted Squalo as Falco tossed aside her sword and made a move to grapple his out of his hand. 

“I don’t fight with swords!” Falco yelled in return. “I fight using judo, not with some—”

Squalo silenced Falco with a fast and painful elbowing to her side, and she crumpled onto the ground and hissed as her ribs ached. “Fine, useless brat. You’re done here.”

The sides of Xanxus’s lips twitched when he saw the girl try to topple Squalo. Maybe this wasn’t as boring as he originally had thought.

“[Last Name]!”

Breathing deeply, you temporarily made eye contact with Squalo. You placidly walked towards him as your companions shifted in their places tensely, and Falco ambled back to the wall. Squalo didn’t even cast another look in your direction, and you felt that he was definitely judging you greatly based on the other students’ abilities. Alinari was swordsman in training, but he hadn’t even stood a chance against the white-haired man, heralded the best of all those wielding the weapon of his title. As much as you were overwhelmed by the obvious gaps in your strengths, you were willing to take your chances. There had to be a good reason why the Varia was here, and you intended to find out by attempting to prove your worth. You had confidence in yourself that you could do little better than the other students if you used your wits.

Xanxus scoffed. These students were no match for the Varia’s second-in-command. That was obvious enough. They weren’t as bad as the others he’d seen from previous schools, at least. 

Squalo made the first move this time, and he started with his Scontro di Squalo. He dove towards you without waiting, and you tried to fight him off with little success. Even if his sword hadn’t cut you, the blades of wind that he had created definitely tore into your clothes and skin and left you covered in shallow gashes. Knowing that you couldn’t best him in proficiency with swords, and following Falco’s actions, you decided to fight him according to your own terms.

“Voii! That all you got? Pathetic!” Squalo slashed at you once again, but this time, you released your sword to fall to the floor and raised your hands to stop his attack. Just as he the blade swung over your head, you caught the blade between your palms. However, it wasn’t enough to stop the sword from hitting you, and it dug into your left shoulder rather deeply, so that your arms were awkwardly bent and holding a sword against your body. Ignoring the pain that flared through your shoulder, you gritted your teeth lit your ring. Sparks of dark neon green sprung from your hands, and you forced your flames to climb up your arms as well as Squalo’s weapon. It didn’t matter if you were hurting as long as you stopped him. You would survive; it was just your shoulder.

“What—”

With a slight grin, you watched as your Lightning Flames crackled around Squalo’s body. He growled at you once he realized what was happening, but by then it was too late. It took only a few moments for the green flames to solidify around him, save his head. The now-rigid, translucent Lightning Flames were rooting him to his place.

“VOI!” shouted Squalo as he attempted to move, but failed. “The hell did you do, brat!”

You said nothing as you kept left hand on the sword in his grasp. [1] Rearing back your right hand, you balled it into a fist and then slammed it into the side of Squalo’s face. You immediately felt the blood spurt from your shoulder, but again, you disregarded it. This was a fight, and you had no qualms in attacking, if you had an opportunity to do so. Besides, if you didn’t take the offensive now, you wouldn’t have another chance before you would be decimated.

“You little shit!” roared Squalo furiously as he spat blood onto the ground, his abused cheek already becoming pink. You stepped back, but kept your hand firmly pressed against the sword. 

Xanxus had nearly snorted when he saw you punch Squalo; that had been somewhat entertaining. He crossed his legs as he watched you. You were still fairly boring in his eyes, but at least you were more interesting than Squalo’s previous “opposition”—if he could even call them that. He hadn’t seen Lightning Flames used to halt someone’s movements as much as to electrocute him, her, or them. Sure, they could be used as barriers and traps, but this was new. He leaned forward, one of his hands under his chin; the Varia Boss knew you wouldn’t be able to beat Squalo, but he still wondered what you would do next.

He had to admit, though, he liked the fact that you took the pain without making a big deal. Squalo wasn’t weak, and he was sure that that attack to your shoulder had hurt, but yet you continued to fight. He wasn’t impressed, but he did note that you weren’t _that_ weak.

As you were about to deliver another punch to the white-haired man, you ceased in your movement when wisps of blue began to radiate from him. You gritted your teeth, but you maintained your grasp on the sword while cursing for not making your flames dense enough to hold him back. You knew that Squalo had figured out how to break free; you wished that he wasn’t as adept as being Varia Quality deemed him.

“You’re gonna fucking pay now,” snarled Squalo as the green around him slowly faded to the pearly sapphire of his Rain Flames. Just as he regained control of his motions, he dropped his sword to his side, almost cutting the palm you had against it. You couldn’t even run before his hand shot out and grabbed the front of your vest. Mercilessly, Squalo brought his fist against your face and then dropped you back on your feet. You had no time to react, however, and he drilled a boot into your stomach, the attack sending you flying into the wall behind you, about fifteen meters away.

The four other students held in their gasps and flinched at the sound of your body hitting concrete. The stone buckled underneath the force with which you had met it, and you tumbled to the floor. Unceremoniously, you were showered in small chunks of rock, and your head knocked against the wall behind you.

Squalo swiped a hand over his cheek and mouth before frowning. “Voiii, you better stay down, brat!” There was no doubt that the Sword Emperor was indeed livid as you had been able to injure him.

Your [e/c] flashed with anger as you rose from your seated position, blood trickling thinly down the side of your face, your shoulder red. Bits of concrete toppled off you, and you raised your head indignantly despite the pain shooting up your spine. You really were irritated; he broke through your technique so swiftly. Using the Rain Flames’ tranquilizing ability to counteract your Lightning… [2] You should have known he would find a way around it, but it still got on your nerves that he had done so with a speed and efficiency you’d never seen before.

Squalo let out an amused grunt when he saw the defiance boiling in your eyes. “What, you mad, trash?”

Lightning Flames crackled around your arms, and you slammed one of your right fist into the wall beside you. The action didn’t hurt your hand (but it did send another wave of pain through your left side), for you had already hardened the dark neon green flames around your hands, but it did leave a large indent in its wake. 

A smirk flitted across Xanxus’s face. The way your eyes flashed maliciously and how your flames flickered in irregular bursts across your body were intriguing. 

Something about you, at that moment, seemed the slightest bit Varia.

“Gonna try again, scum?” Squalo asked when he saw you stand up fully then shake yourself off. Your [e/c] eyes reflected the pale emerald of your flames, and your Lightning Flames rose in jagged, wavering spikes all around you.

As angry as you were, you knew when you were beat. Letting your flames slowly die out in sporadic bouts, you knelt down and placed a hand on your back to support your throbbing spine. You felt as if your cheek had swelled to double its size when you muttered, “No.”

“Hah?” sneered Squalo as he crossed ground towards you.

“I’m not going to get my ass kicked again,” you explained with a frown as you risked a gutsy retort, “when I can live to get better another day. I’m not stupid.”

For the second time that day, Squalo picked you up by your vest. This time, however, his steely gray eyes glared into your resolutely [e/c] ones, and then his lips curled back ever slightly. With what you presumed was a showing of contempt, the white-haired man tossed you away from him, and you landed flat on your bottom. However, you were surprised to see him turn around, with a haughty smirk, and announce, “Voii! Maybe you aren’t, you damn brat.”

You replied with nothing, and you pitifully staggered to your feet then hobbled back towards the other students. However, when you felt as if there was someone else besides Squalo watching you from behind, you listlessly rounded on your heels to check who it was.

You had forgotten that there was the other man, Xanxus, with his clearly powerful demeanor, who had been observing your and Squalo’s exchange. Boldly, you stared straight back at him for a few seconds, and then bowing your head, you turned away and sat down beside the students against the wall. When you glanced at him again, he was no longer looking at you.

As Squalo made his way back to Xanxus, his cheek a faded hue of red, he kept his voice minimally lowered when he spoke, “Boss.”

His ashen eyes flicked to the students, and then he glanced at Xanxus once again. There seemed to be some sort of tacit acknowledgement between the two men, and the Varia’s leader stood up from his seat.

“Ditch the trash from the other schools.

“Who we’re looking for is here.” 

Squalo, although having long-since graduated from this facility, grinned to himself. He would admit he was biased to finding a Varia Quality boss from his former school.

He wasn’t going to deny that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: Most Lightning Flame users usually have some of object to channel their flames into and to keep their flow constant (ie. Levi’s umbrellas and the billiard balls Gamma uses), but the reader doesn’t at the moment. Therefore, she has to keep her hand on the sword, which she can pass her flames onto. That’s another reason why she had to physically hold onto it to be able to get her flames around Squalo and harden.
> 
> [2]: Kinda like when Bluebell uses a barrier of Rain Flames to absorb / cancel out Levi’s in the Future Arc. Squalo used his own Rain Flames to do the same when the reader’s Lightning Flames were already surrounding him.  
> Also, if you’re wondering why the reader might have been able to do better than the top two students who had better combat rankings than her, it’s because she didn’t necessarily go in with the idea of fighting Squalo. She used her smarts—which were scored higher than the first two—that led her to manipulate her Lightning Flames to “fight” Squalo instead of wielding a sword. 
> 
> In case you’re curious, here’s some basic information on the other four students, listed by rank and names in format of first and then last. I can’t say whether or not some of them will stick around though… I don’t know I’m kinda growing attached 
> 
> 1 – Raimondo Alinari (Male, Full Italian, Age: 18) – Dark brown, short, layered hair with side bangs to the right; brown eyes; relatively tan; around 172 cm or 5’ 8”
> 
> 2 – Cara Monti (Female, Half-Italian, Half-German, Age: 17) – Light hazelnut hair, layered, short and cropped close to the neck, bangs to left of face; blue eyes; pale skin tone; around 167 cm or 5’ 6”
> 
> 4 – Leonora Falco (Female, Full Italian, Age: 18) – Dark brown, middle-length, straight hair with bangs to the right; brown eyes; a bit of a darker tan; 165 cm or 5’ 5”
> 
> 5 – Rinieri Albero (Male, Full Italian, Age: 16) – Dark brown, hair that’s tied back into a very short ponytail; brown eyes; pretty tan; around 170 cm or 5’ 7”


	4. Particular

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Under most typical circumstances, whatever it is that the Varia wants, they’ll probably get. Unfortunately, [Name] has no idea that she might be someone with skills that have caught their attention.

After fighting Squalo, you—and you felt that the rest of your peers—wanted nothing more than to be done with the day. Your body ached, and with every step you took, a sharp burning ripped through your muscles, especially in the right of your face and back. Digging your teeth into your bottom lip, you held in the grunt of pain that would have escaped your lips, and instead you winced while making your way down the stairs. 

“You good?” questioned Alinari as he slowed down to let you catch up to him. Falco had healed up most of the other students’ wounds with her Sun Flames while you had been fighting. She had been able to do a little for you, mainly fixing up your shoulder so that it didn’t hurt anymore, but she hadn’t had time for your back. Alinari was bringing up the rear of your group, besides you, and you appreciated that he was willing to stick around for your slow self. “That guy beat you up the worst.”

With a wry grin, you reassured him, “Yeah, I think that I’m all right—well—as all right I can be after taking a punch and kick and flying into a wall. I’m at least thankful I didn’t run into it face-first.”

Alinari nodded his head. “I wonder why these guys are here.”

“Who knows.” You shook your head and halted mid-shrug after remembering that you were reasonably worn-out and shouldn’t be moving more than necessary. Deciding to leave your answer vague and open-ended, you thought it better to not tell Alinari who you thought—and were fairly certain about—the two men were.

Before Alinari could say anything to you, Squalo yelled imperiously, “Get ready brats! We’re going outside!”

You and Alinari glanced at one another and then stepped outdoors behind the rest of the group. It was a relatively gloomy day, with patches of gray and off-white stretching across the sky. Turning around for a moment, you realized that you had left the building from the back and were now walking towards the outdoor training fields. You traversed for a while until the school was obscured by trees, and you realized that you were purposefully going to one of the most unused and relatively abandoned training grounds quite a distance from your mafia academy. Unfortunately, your day wasn’t over quite yet, it seemed.

Xanxus leaned against the wall of an old shed that had been used for the field’s maintenance some time ago. He watched as Squalo directed the lot of you and then sighed quietly from his nose. Honestly, he didn’t really care what Squalo demanded of you all as long as he could gauge your skill levels adequately. If Xanxus didn’t like what Squalo was doing, then he’d step in to interfere, but for the most part—and what he wouldn’t reveal to anyone ever—he trusted the swordsman’s judgement.

“Voiii! You better be ready, because we’re starting right now!” Squalo dashed forward at your line, and he threw a punch at Falco, who instantly responded by dodging out of the way. Understanding that this was the second stage of whatever sort of _test_ this man was putting you all through, your group spread out hastily as Falco confronted Squalo. You understood that this time, Squalo was going to fight you with his bare hands. Reasonably, you assumed that he wanted to see your hand-to-hand combat skills.

“Finally,” she announced with a grin, “something that I’m actually good at.”

Approaching Squalo, she experimentally punched a hand at his face, but he blocked her attempt with the back of his left wrist. The two exchanged kicks and punches and often deflected them while the rest of your group sat against the wall, but a considerable distance from Xanxus.

Your back, still throbbing, was causing you quite an amount of pain as you rested. Now that you were stationary, however, you were able to identify where the main injury to your back was. Pressing a few fingers against the lower few vertebra of your spine, you hissed when you realized that you had touched the sorest area. The region would definitely bruise, but as you gently assessed how much damage had been done to the rest of your back, you noted that it was significantly less than the tender spot.

 _“That’s lucky… At least my back didn’t break,”_ you thought with a quiet sigh. _“Then I’d really be incapable of doing anything, let alone fighting him again.”_

Glancing back at Falco’s and Squalo’s fight, you noticed that the student was adamantly matching his every strike. Though, whenever either of them gained ground on one another, they quickly lost it. Falco took him by surprise, however, when she bent her knees and crouched down slightly, and his punch whizzed above her head. Seizing the opportunity, she hooked her left hand under his armpit quickly and then placed her right on his arm before pushing forward. With an incredible showing of strength on Falco’s part, she flipped Squalo over her shoulder in an attempt to throw him to the ground.

 _“Ippon seoi nage”_ was what the technique was called, according to your recollections from a martial art class you’d taken. You also remembered that that was one of Falco’s favorite techniques in Judo, and she often used it on her opponents. 

“He’s still up?” questioned Albero incredulously as he saw Squalo use the momentum of her throw to land on his feet. 

Alinari shook his head. “He’s definitely skilled—that’s for sure.”

Leaning against the wall, you blinked in disbelief. Hardly anyone was capable of taking advantage of Falco’s full shoulder throw, and you knew that none of your group had been able to best her in martial arts. You’d at least expected to see Squalo on the grassy terrain instead of standing upright with a proud smirk on his face. You frowned, and then you thought to yourself, _“Well, he is Varia Quality… I guess I shouldn’t be so shocked.”_

“Voiii! Not bad, brat,” scoffed Squalo while he blocked Falco’s next punch. She was relentlessly going on the offensive, and there was no break in her attacks despite Squalo’s being able to overcome her _ippon seoi nage_ with ease. He was constantly backing up, and with a swift turn, Falco faced her side towards him and then placed her right hand on his left shoulder. Tripping up his right foot and pushing him to the ground, Falco managed this time to throw Squalo off-balance.  [1] He met the hard-packed soil with a thud, and the student grinned confidently.

She didn’t lean over his frame or approach too hastily, however, and kicked out a foot towards his stomach to deal him another blow. Unexpectedly, Squalo’s left hand shot out, and he snagged her leg before bringing Falco crashing to the ground too. He immediately pushed himself off the dirt and took advantage of Falco’s surprise as she scrambled to her feet. With a series of fast jabs, Squalo forced her to retreat, and she was left keeping her arms up and blocking her face. Sneering at her defensive state, Squalo punched her straight in the gut, and Falco crumbled to the ground ungracefully. 

“Voiii, Albero, you’re next!” shouted Squalo as he nudged Falco away with his boot. She scowled before heading over to where Albero was standing.

It wasn’t a surprise that Squalo barreled through the rest of the students, including yourself, when he fought against you all. You couldn’t compare to Falco’s skills in close combat, and you weren’t appalled that Squalo had finished you off with a couple punches and another kick. You had tried to use your Lightning Flames again, but you didn’t get enough time to seal his movements as he was constantly attacking.

“All of your hand-to-hand combat skills are rusted as hell,” Squalo declared critically, crossing his arms as the lot of you picked yourselves up from against the wall. “Or, they haven’t been developed very well.”

Glancing at Falco, you noticed that she appeared very indignant in response to his comment, and her lips curled into a scowl. 

“Anyway, next we’re going to see what the hell you can do with your own weapons of choice,” announced Squalo as he glanced briefly at your group. “Have a place where you put them?”

Albero spoke up somewhat hesitantly, “They’re in the first floor training rooms. We have a storage room with lockers for everyone’s weapons.”

“Go get them then, brats!” shouted the white-haired man, pointing a finger towards the building’s entrance. “We don’t have all day!”

Without further delay, you and the rest hurried—as fast as you could, considering that many of you were pretty injured—inside the school, which was now somewhat far away. Even though you were rather wounded, the lifestyle of mafia school still familiarized you with constant injuries and resistance to small wounds. Although your back was still giving you sharp pains here and there, you had handled everything else rather well. You’d have to be tough enough to survive anything that would be thrown at you, anyway, for the Mafia World was capricious and full of surprises. 

Once you arrived at the storage area within the training room, you all found your respective lockers and twisted in the combinations to open them. There was no chatting among you and the other students, and after retrieving your weapons, you departed for the training field. You were pretty sure that if the five of you wasted time talking, Squalo wouldn’t be pleased to find you back late.

When you were back outside, you lined up as you had the first time upon meeting the two strangers. Squalo surveyed all of you and your weapons before musing aloud, “Not bad choices, brats.”

Haphazardly, Monti was spinning the two Manji _sai_ in her hands, and she seemed to be more content holding familiar weapons in lieu of a sword. Also feeling relieved to have your two cinquedea on your person, you tucked one each through the loops in your belt and tightened them in place. Alinari was strapping his sword over his shoulder while Falco was standing still, her grip taut on the gauntlets in her hands. With much apprehension, Albero kept his metal staff collapsed and clasped behind his back.

Squalo commanded you without hesitation, “Monti and [Last Name], let’s see what you can do.”

You and the said girl looked at one another, and then the half-German, half-Italian spoke up, “You want us to fight each other? Any rules in particular?”

“Whatever the hell your school rules are as long as you don’t kill each other,” remarked Squalo off-handedly, “because I don’t want to have to deal with the trash that’ll come after me if you do.”

Nodding, you and Monti acknowledged Squalo’s concerns, and then faced one another. You had been assessing her fighting style when she had battled against Squalo, and you had already been acquainted with some of the techniques she used because you’d sparred with her before. Something you knew was true about Monti was that she wily and wouldn’t hesitate in taking advantage of a situation. Her mind worked quickly, and combined with her skills in using her _sai_ , she was formidable. However, just like Monti, _you_ knew how to control a situation for your benefit, and you were intelligent as well. You also noticed that her right shoulder had been injured during her fight with Squalo, and that the mobility of that corresponding arm would be less threatening for you. As you observed what physical injuries Monti had, you were sure that she was doing the same of your body. It was obvious that your lower back still caused you pain to some extent.

While you and Monti had been sizing each other up, the remaining students and Squalo had moved off to the side of the field, nearest to the shed. The white-haired man rested against the rickety building and curiously watched you and Monti circle around one another, his expectations—although not set too high—raised to the point where he thought you both could show him your skills and a somewhat interesting fight.

It wasn’t startling to you that Monti made the first move; in fact, you had been waiting for her to act before you. You were always prepared to counter and analyze instead of diving in without thought. She didn’t seem like the type to do so either, so she must have pinpointed a weakness of yours already.

With a grunt, Monti jabbed the _sai_ in her left hand towards you, and you drew the longer of your two cinquedea from its sheath to block her foreseen attack. You knew she would start with her left, because of the damage done to her right shoulder. Now also brandishing your other cinquedea, you spun on your heels and turned until you had almost gotten behind Monti. Slashing the cinquedea in your right hand towards her left, you attempted to disarm her, but you cursed when she stopped your attack with the downwards-facing prong of her Manji _sai_.

“Huh,” she breathed out heavily before smirking. “You’re not bad, for having a busted back.”

“Well, I could say the same about you, with your right shoulder,” you retorted with a similar look on your face.

“I still have my left,” Monti reminded you as she whirled around after pushing away your dagger. With swift dexterity, she aimed a strike towards you, which you saw headed for your lower back. Parrying the blow, you kicked a leg out at her and forced her backwards lest she be hit.

Not waiting another moment, Monti slashed at you again just as you were lowering your foot, but this time, she was using both of her _sai_. You were correct in believing that her right arm wouldn’t be as fast as her left, but she still was dangerous nonetheless. Keeping time with her strikes, you deflected them all, but understanding that she wasn’t gaining any ground on you, Monti swept her leg out to try and trip you up. Noticing the action, you hastily jumped upwards, hooking your knees behind you up to your back, but regretting it when a shock of pain scuttled up your spine. Ignoring the sting, you immediately knelt down to the ground and avoided her next two attacks with her _sai_ , and then you took the offensive by stabbing both your blades upwards.

Reading your movements, Monti rapidly pushed both your blades away by placing her _sai_ in the gaps between them and pushing outwards. She forced them away from her and then swung the butt end of the _sai_ in her left hand at your head, but you rolled backwards in a hurried escape. Clutching both your cinquedea, you shot back up on your feet, and your eyes widened when you saw one of Monti’s _sai_ —doused in Cloud Flames—headed straight for you. You flattened yourself to the grass once it came at you, for you knew what was about to happen next. The single _sai_ burst into ten others, and you fortunate they whizzed over your head and pierced the packed dirt behind you. When you looked up, however, Monti was armed with two _sai_ and dashing towards you. Picking yourself up at an incredible speed, you prepared yourself for another confrontation, your stance widened and your cinquedea raised.

However, you didn’t realize that she wasn’t going for a head-on attack like before, and she swerved around and then behind you instead. Catching you off-guard, Monti, again, swung the end of her _sai_ at you, but this time, she went for your back. The knuckle end made contact with her target, and you collapsed forward at the impact.

“Got you,” Monti taunted although it was exerting herself very much to keep you held down. Squatting half on top of you, she had a foot pressed down above your waist and the other beside you as she held her _sai_ to the back of your neck, your face unpleasantly pressed against the arid soil and dry grass. 

Squalo raised his eyebrows; he didn’t expect you to go down that fast. He looked over at Xanxus, whose nonchalant expression throughout the whole fight hadn’t changed, even now. The Varia’s boss was unimpressed by your simple defeat, and he resisted the urge to scoff. 

_“Fucking pathetic,”_ thought Xanxus as he closed his eyes.

He lazily opened them when he heard someone gasp, however.

With a smirk, although your face was still greeted by dusty dirt, you kicked your feet upwards and towards where you could feel Monti was digging her boot into your back. You grinned when you felt your own pair of shoes connect with—supposedly— _her_ back, and when the pressure on yours lessened considerably, you pushed against the ground with your forearms and then swung your legs up and on either side of her body. She struggled for a second, but you mercilessly threw her off you as you tossed your legs backwards, and Monti went tumbling into the ground, her head hitting the soil first. Recollecting your bearings after having your face in the terrain, you lit your ring and soon enough, Lightning Flames crackled around your hands. First kicking away her pair of _sai_ ,you then knelt beside Monti who was about to get up, and you grabbed her wrist, your Lightning Flames instantly leaping across her body. Not meaning to electrocute her, you hardened the green bolts and instead trapped her against the ground.

Mirroring her previous victorious smirk and holding the shorter of your two cinquedea to her throat, you announced decisively, “I win.”

Monti scowled; she never had figured how to break your technique before, and she was upset to have been defeated by it. She’d seen it before, and she felt ashamed to go down to an attack of which she was well-aware.

“Dammit, [Last Name],” sighed Monti as she rolled her eyes. “Your Lightning Flames always piss me off.”

“And I get freaked when you use your Cloud Flames on your _sai_ like that,” you joked in return while letting her up. She shook hands with you, and the two of you stood up and collected your weapons. You sheathed your cinquedea and walked towards the wall, where everyone else—besides Monti, who was behind you—was standing.

Squalo allowed a faint grin to cross his face. “You actually weren’t as pathetic as I thought,” he stated in your direction.

Choosing not to verbally respond, you nodded and walked towards the other three students. As you and Monti examined your new injuries—if any—Squalo folded his arms over one another. He knew it now; your fighting style was heavily centered around using your flames at the prime moment in battle. You didn’t needlessly expend energy by releasing your Lightning Flames when they weren’t necessary, and whenever you seemed to be a bad spot, you relied on your instincts to show yourself how to get out of a bind. There was something very logical about your thinking, and Squalo had to admit that he was somewhat intent on seeing what else there was about you. He might have said that Monti’s skills were worth drawing attention to as well, but he Varia had no interest in those who lost. Granted, all of you had lost against him, though that was a different case. He didn’t expect you to win against him, he thought with a smirk.

Xanxus didn’t know if he was impressed by your counterattack or not, because he thought you were still weak for being taken down so easily in the first place. Scratch that, nothing ever really “impressed” Xanxus, so supposedly he would settle for being somewhat interested in your retaliation and taking the win over Monti. Yes, you were _interesting_ , he’d say at best.

Next up were Alinari and Albero, each wielding their respective weapons proudly. Alinari’s sword was an Italian _schiavona_ , with a basket-hilted handle that had full protection for the hand using the blade, which was double-edged. Albero’s metal staff was retractable and almost two meters long, and you remembered that either end could become pointed at the push of a button, somewhere along the weapon.

Much like in your and Monti’s fight, Albero and Alinari first took cautious steps around each other. You weren’t surprised to see Albero attack before his opponent as he always was one to want to start the fight. Swinging his staff overhead, Albero aimed a strike at Alinari’s left shoulder, but he was stopped by his adversary’s sword. The two then locked in a fast-paced battle, their weapons clanging upon impact as they tried to best each other.

Squalo briefly pinpointed that Alinari’s sword style was offensive, and that the teen was calculating how to use Albero’s movements against him. He thought he’d seen Alinari’s techniques before, but Squalo honestly didn’t care too much, for he probably defeated a couple practitioners of them. However, his interest was piqued somewhat when he saw the two light their rings.

As Albero now twirled his staff, surrounded by snapping scarlet flames, Alinari ran a hand over his sword, and it ignited in an orange blaze. The white-haired swordsman wouldn’t be impressed by the fact that Alinari had Sky Flames running within him until he proved to the Varia member he knew how to use them. To Squalo, owning a weapon meant nothing if one was clueless about how to wield it.

The pace of the fight sped up dramatically after the two released their respective flames. They continued their barrage of attacks as they had before, and at the speed they were striking at one another, you were almost sure that one mistake in either teen’s performance would lead to a victor’s being defined.

“The hell…” muttered Falco, and you knew at once someone was on the verge of a loss as the other would claim a win. It was all-too-clear when you saw that Albero’s arms had turned gray, and as you narrowed your eyes to see better, you could tell they were being petrified by Alinari’s Sky Flames. You hadn’t seen how it had happened, but you knew that you never wanted to be on the receiving end of Alinari’s skills.

“Well, well…” Squalo tilted his head to the side as he grinned. “About time something happened.”

In less than half a minute, the rest of Albero’s body—besides his head—had been seemingly turned to stone. He didn’t seem terrified, however, and he only rolled his eyes as Squalo announced that Alinari was the victor. 

“Lemme go now, ‘Nari,” complained Albero at the first-ranked student.

Shaking his head, Alinari placed a hand on Albero’s wrist and sighed. “Still the same.”

As the gray faded from around the defeated teen, he protested, “Well, it’s not like I can just break free of petrification that fast, you know. I’m still developing my Storm Flames to be able to disintegrate the stone, but that takes a lot of energy.”

“I’ll be waiting for that day, then.” Alinari shook Albero’s hand, and the two returned to where you had been spectating. 

It didn’t shock you that again, neither of the Varia members said much, and only the white-haired man gave you commands. He didn’t comment on the last fight, and you were frankly relieved but somewhat surprised that you didn’t have to fight Alinari. That made sense to engage in combat with him, but Squalo hadn’t said anything about your taking on one another. Instead, he only ordered your group to complete a multitude of other tasks. A little more combat training, some shooting, and then strategy and knowledge questions brought you to various places around campus. Somehow, so much so that you felt as if Squalo _knew_ the academy’s schedule, you avoided contact with any students. You ended your day in the infirmary with the other four students as you all were getting patched up after such grueling exercises. The two Varia members had left you there, and Squalo had commanded that you all stay put until the medics had fully diagnosed and checked your injuries. Since you five were rather bruised and beat for the most part, you would be in here for a while.

Now, as you sat quietly in the infirmary—you and your companions didn’t think it was smart to talk about why exactly you were here in front of the nurses—you wondered what the point of today was. For certain, you’d had some experiences you couldn’t explain, and you felt that there had been definitely something else behind the apathy and anger in Xanxus’s eyes as he had watched your group fight and follow Squalo’s demands.

Sighing, you leaned back against your chair. You wanted someone to explain everything to you right away.

* * *

“So, Boss, what do you think?” questioned Squalo when he approached Xanxus. 

The said Varia leader lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. “They need fucking work.”

“Tch,” scoffed the white-haired swordsman as he cracked the knuckles of his right hand. “You could definitely say that. But they’re not _completely_ pathetic, thinking about the trash from the other schools. The brat with the Lightning Flames isn’t half-bad, and that Alinari kid might have some promise with a sword.”

Xanxus clicked his tongue and continued to walk ahead of Squalo. 

“There’s more to that Lightning brat than she lets on,” added Squalo while he caught up to his boss while he took long strides. “Though that Alinari isn’t bad either. He could be an asset too.”

With nothing more than a grunt, Xanxus acknowledged Squalo’s statement, and the two headed towards the principal’s office. 

“You’ve already decided, haven’t you?” [2] asked Squalo rather quietly, as to not draw attention to themselves. He had an inkling of a feeling he knew who Xanxus wanted to become the Varia’s successor. After all, Xanxus had never been one for sticking to conventional methods. He was concerned with his interests and his interests only, and he didn’t care if he broke with “traditions.” To him, they probably were useless formalities anyway.

Xanxus said nothing, and Squalo shook his head as the Varia’s leader, again, barged into Acciai’s office. The brunette running the mafia school looked fairly shocked, but he recovered quickly and nodded his head to the two Varia members. They neared his table, and Squalo loomed over him as he glanced around at the leaflets strewn across the wooden surface.

Now the Varia, despite seeming like a callous and demanding bunch, wouldn’t take these students in against their wills. [3] There’d be too much drama if they’d forced an heir or heiress of a mafia family into joining the Varia. It also clashed with their principles of maintaining a withdrawn and reticent front.

Without consulting Xanxus, Squalo made a decision to choose two of the list—the pair who didn’t lose in combat—even though he was certain he knew who Xanxus was interested in as the Varia’s successor.

“Call up [Last Name] and Alinari, and tell the other three they can leave,” Squalo stated, placing his left index and middle fingers next to each of the student’s names on the document on the principal’s desk. “They’re in the infirmary.”

Squalo barely glanced at Xanxus from the corners of his eyes. He was sure about his hunch now; if who Xanxus wanted to recruit wasn’t one of the two whom he had mentioned, then his boss would’ve objected.

“Yes, straight away,” complied Acciai while he picked up the phone’s receiver. As he inputted the sickbay’s extension number, the principal wondered through what kind of combat two of the most pivotal of the Varia had put them.

Contacting the nurses stationed there, Acciai informed them that Alinari and you were to be sent up to his office immediately, and the others could depart from the infirmary. He offered no context as to why as he did the first time the students had been asked to visit. The less the three other students knew about the Varia’s motives, the better.

It was quite an awkward five minutes for Acciai as the Varia hung silently around his room while he attempted to find some blank forms in case you and Alinari did join the Vongola’s Independent Assassination Squad. This would be quite an honor if the two of you did, and the principal was hoping that you understood the immense amount of commendation that becoming a member of the Varia incurred.

A knock resounded against his door, and the principal breathed out a sigh of relief before announcing, “Yes.”

Appearing much better than before visiting to the infirmary, you and Alinari stepped inside the room. Neither of you expressed any astonishment in seeing the same two men in the principal’s office again. Instead, you remained quiet, imagining that you’d be instructed by them—or at least the white-haired man—again.

Expectantly, you shuffled in your place and watched as the principal exchanged a look with Squalo. The principal nodded, and then Squalo turned to you and Alinari, a hand on his hip.

“Voii, you’re lucky, damn brats,” he announced with a smirk. “The Varia’s looking for new recruits, and you happened to make the cut today.”

Alinari and you didn’t look at one another, but instead, you both remained silent. Even though you were confident that Superbi Squalo and Xanxus were the two Varia members in the room, you didn’t seem convinced by the Sword Emperor’s statement.

“You’re asking us to join the Varia,” said Alinari, his question sounding more like a reaffirming statement. His dark chestnut-colored eyes widened marginally, and he subconsciously tugged at the corner of his jacket. By now, you thought that Alinari had figured out who the two men were.

“What else do you think?” snapped Squalo, his eyes half-closed as he sassed the teen.

Alinari waved his hands in front of him. “I mean, it’s right to be suspicious of everyone’s motives, if that’s one of the things I’ve learned here and about the people in the Mafia World. I was only saying that to make sure that you’re being honest about this. Some people _are_ inherently liars.”

“And you never told us who you were, besides the fact that the Varia was looking for recruits,” you cut in blandly, your arms tucked under one another. “But I’m sure that you’re Squalo Superbi, and your boss, Xanxus, is also here.”

For a short moment, everyone in the room—minus Xanxus, who continued to appear indifferent—seemed slightly taken aback that you had interrupted, because you hadn’t said anything since walking in or much during the course of the day. However, Squalo just grinned smugly and spoke, “Huh, not bad thinking, trash.”

He then turned his head towards you and said, “And you, Lightning brat, you might be right about that observation.”

A smirk flitted onto your face quickly and then disappeared. Just like the Varia not to confirm your statement.

“I’ll join,” declared Alinari without wavering as he brought the conversation back to its original topic. A resolute sheen glossed over his brown eyes as he admitted, “If there’s somewhere I can get better, it’d be the Varia.”

Squalo’s lips curved upwards, and he chuckled somewhat at the teen’s quick answer. “It’s not a training ground, brat. There’s a lot of crap that you’ll have to be able to survive.”

With one of his own confident grins, Alinari took up Squalo’s challenge in stride. “I will. You’ll see.”

All eyes were on you now, and you placed your hands behind your back. While Alinari had been speaking, you had been weighing your options. Since your mother was a free-lance mafia agent and your father had passed away for eight years already, you didn’t have a “family” to return to after graduating from school. You had always thought that you would follow your mother’s lead and work for various mafia families, but the opportunity that the Varia was providing you seemed like a quaint—and frankly, rather welcome—change to your previous plans. Sure, it would be a difference to what you had thought your life would be in the future, but then again, this was still the Mafia World, and you’d trained to do work—even for the Varia.

Flicking your gaze towards Squalo, you nodded your head. You glanced at Xanxus, who was apathetically surveying the room, but when your eyes met his, you froze for a moment. Again, you saw that his crimson optics seemed to convey something else besides the obvious contempt he had for people he thought of sub-par intellect and competence, and you found yourself curious about the man. You’d heard about his ruthless demeanor and intimidating physique, and you accredited them both as you observed him. However, there was something else about his silence, and the scrutinizing stare with which he’d been judging you and the other students all day, that told you there was more to him than one would find just through first impressions.

“Well?” prompted Squalo as he tilted his head a tad. “You got an answer, brat?”

“I’ll go with you,” you replied firmly, his words snapping you from your reverie.

Squalo smirked and turned back to the principal while proclaiming, “Voooiii, looks like this wasn’t a complete waste of time then!”

Acciai thought that it would be all right for him to intrude for a moment as he asked, “Will the students be joining you after this school year is finished?”

“That’s in five days, right?” The Sword Emperor added on once the principal confirmed his inquiry, “We’ll be back then, so you better not have slacked off.”

You and Alinari couldn’t believe your ears or what was really going down right now. It never occurred to you both that you would be joining the ranks of the Varia, the most pristine and renowned assassination squad in the Mafia World. Just when you thought that Xanxus and Squalo would be leaving the two of you to question your senses of reality, the latter spoke up again.

“Keep your damn mouths shut too. The Varia doesn’t need people who don’t know how or when to stop talking,” [4] decreed Squalo authoritatively while he rounded on his heels towards the office’s exit. 

“Right,” Alinari agreed, his composure somewhat stiff as the two Varia members strode to leave. You added your words of consent too, and you very briefly glanced at them before they left—almost seemingly as quickly as they had come. Glancing at the clock, you shook your head; they had impeccable timing. Students would have been in their seventh block class, and the Varia’s presence would hardly be known at your school. For sure, Squalo had been aware of the schedule before coming to your academy.

“And you,” Squalo said, directing his words to the principal. “If those other three students got questions about us, you better not give us away. Make up some lie that sounds believable. Don’t care what it is as long as it isn’t some stupid shit.”

“I’ll be sure to do so.” Acciai inclined his head and shied away from Squalo’s pointed stare.

Just before the Sword Emperor slammed the door shut to the principal’s office, a smirk, taunting and almost mocking, formed on his face. His silvery eyes seemed to flash, and with his chin flicked upwards in a showing of great confidence, he announced with every intention to scare you both, “Voiii! It’ll be amusing to see how long you live in the Varia.”

Just like that, he and Xanxus disappeared, and the room was left in silence. Acciai seemed the most rattled in comparison with you and Alinari, who appeared composed.

Instead of being completely frightened, you also felt a surge of expectation.

Sure, you’d be facing trials far beyond what you’d ever thought of, but then again, you never knew what the Mafia World would be harboring. 

It was just that the Varia took it all to the extreme, and you were prepared to be tossed around and very possibly, and nearly, torn apart. However, you were confident you would live. After all, if they could see something in you, then you knew there was more to your potential then you thought. Even if you couldn’t see it yourself yet.

Just like you’d told Squalo earlier that day and much like Alinari as he had stated in his reasons behind joining the Varia, you were ready to improve.

_Oh yes, you would learn just what it meant to be Varia Quality._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: Judo technique – “ashi guruma” – “leg wheel”
> 
> [2]: Xanxus seems to me to be a person who really doesn’t like indecisiveness. I feel that he is a direct kind of guy, and he hates being lied to, and he hates waiting for others. If he has to get something done, he’ll get it done as soon as possible because it’s annoying to have people’s bothering him to finish a job. Not that many people really would—exempting Squalo who actually does (and we see what happens to him, a glass to the head)—but Xanxus doesn’t seem too patient. Even though he knows that finding a suitable successor to the Varia is important, it’s not like he’s going to be openly and obviously meticulous about choosing the right person. He’ll be silently judging as he usually does. From small tests and his, her, or their behavior, he’s going to figure out whether or not he, she, or they fit(s) his standards. 
> 
> [3]: I know that the Varia kidnapped Fran and forced him to join them, but that wasn’t in a “professional” environment. I’d think that the Varia would have to act differently in more “public” situations, and they can’t just go around kidnapping students. 
> 
> [4]: People might think that Squalo’s statement is contradictory, considering that he’s so loud. But there’s a difference between being loud and talking non-stop. Squalo’s noisy, but he knows when to stop talking (he’s not going to reveal important information just because he’s loud). It’s just that when he does talk, he talks loudly.
> 
> Reader’s weapons are two cinquedea which are a type of Italian dagger that was used in the Renaissance. One’s around 45 cm long (around 1 ½ feet), the other 30 (a foot). Personally I kinda like them because the 45 one can also be classified as a “short sword.”
> 
> And if you’re curious as to why the Varia got two recruits instead of just the reader, there’s a reason why as well… (:


	5. Shallow Waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Formalities, signatures, and questioning. Unexpected offers, and [Name] finds herself in the midst of something she’s never even considered before. Perhaps, like a full observation of the Varia’s Headquarters.

“Hey,” greeted Alinari as he appeared in front of you, his lunch tray in hand. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

Somewhat startled to see the brunette, you raised your eyes from your meal and placed your fork down on your plate. You shook your head and waved a hand at the empty space opposite you, the action inviting Alinari to join you. “Nah. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” The first-ranked student set his food onto the table and then settled himself on the previously vacant seat. 

As you swallowed another bite of your lunch, you queried a little curiously, “Is there something you wanted to talk about?”

“Uh.” Alinari twirled his spoon into the mashed potatoes on his plate and then chuckled. “I was thinking that since we’re both going to end up in the same place, it wouldn’t hurt to get to know more about one another. I’d be really happy to see a familiar face somewhere where I won’t know much about, you know what I mean?”

You just blinked and shrugged your shoulders. Alinari had never been rude to you, and you could name some occasions during which he helped you out. Not to mention that you and he were peers in several classes, and you were familiar with his generally honest nature. “That wouldn’t be such a bad idea”—a grin stretched across your face—“so I guess I’ll introduce myself. [Name] [Last Name]. I’m seventeen and a fourth year in high school, and I’m a Lightning Flame user.”

Wearing a matching smile, Alinari cleared his throat and announced to you, “Yo! I’m Raimondo Alinari, and I’m eighteen, so in my last year of high school. Got the Sky Flames in me.”

He waited a moment before snorting, “Not like we didn’t know that about each other before this moment, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Formalities out of the way at least now,” you laughed before taking a drink of water. 

“By the way,” Alinari commented as he poked his fork through some pieces of lettuce, “I thought it was pretty cool how you were able to get a hit on that guy last class.”

Eyes immediately narrowing, you didn’t show your surprise at Alinari’s comment as you had no idea about what he was talking. You hadn’t had any combat classes today. Wiping your mouth with your napkin, you allowed your mind to start trying to piece together what he was saying. The only time you had punched someone recently was during your short-lived battle against Squalo just yesterday—unless that was who he was referring to, and he was keeping his meaning secret in case other students were listening. Alinari wasn’t senseless enough to mention the white-haired man of the Varia in the midst of prying high schoolers. It was then that you also noticed that Alinari had kept his previous statements about joining the Varia together also very general. He must be hinting at your fight with Squalo right now.

“Thanks.” You set down your napkin and offered him a quick smile. “It was kinda scary, to be honest.”

“I could imagine that,” said Alinari as he related to you and let a brief chuckle past his lips. “I was scared the whole time.”

“When I was fighting him? Or when you were?” You spun your fork around in your hand and kept the inquiring air around casual to act as if you weren’t talking about anything in which other people would be interested.

Chewing on a crouton, Alinari remained silent before finishing up the salad topping and admitting, “Actually, whenever anyone was fighting him.”

“Yeah.”

As you and Alinari continued eating your lunches in silence, your mind drifted to the proposition you had accepted. You really were going to learn what it meant to be Varia Quality. Did you think you could earn that awing standard? 

To some extent, you weren’t sure.

But you didn’t doubt your capabilities. You had made it this far in your school, worked for your position as a top student, and beat out others in the academy who were born heiresses and heirs to their families. You didn’t have the blood of a successor to an influential family within you,but you were all right with that. 

Having that blood wasn’t the sole determinant of anyone’s power. That didn’t dictate that you were only pedestrian. It was your drive, your determination, your will to fight through anything that conveyed who you were, and being chosen by the Varia showed you that you were destined for something better than mediocracy. [1]

You would prove your worth in ways that could leave people stunned by your talent and awed by your very presence. That would be satisfying, and you wished to demonstrate that people wouldn’t be getting the better of you so effortlessly. You would earn deference from others, you believed, through hard work and—sometimes, you could imagine was necessary at times—the showing of your strength. It would be hard to become someone as such, but you knew you could accomplish your goal.

* * *

Just as the fifth day of school ended since Squalo and Xanxus had arrived at your campus and selected you and Alinari to join the Varia, you—and you assumed your upperclassman as well—were called to your principal’s office. Since classes ended at six in the evening, all students ate dinner afterwards, so the stairs were unoccupied as you ascended them to his work room. Earlier today you had received a note from one of your teachers informing you that the principal was to see you at six-ten after school had ended. You supposed the message had been sent to you because of your future involvement with the Varia, and no doubt, you were feeling anxious about it.

“Hey!” You recognized the voice as Alinari’s, and you turned at the top of the steps to see him running up after you.

“Hi,” you offered him as you waited for him to reach your position. “I guess this really is about it, then?”

Understanding your incredibly vague musing, Alinari nodded his head. The two of you started up the last flights of stairs in silence, and you thought of everything that would change once you disappeared from this mafia school. Definitely, you’d be in for a whole new lifestyle, one full of rigorous tasks; the Varia wouldn’t just let you loaf around after recruiting you. Even if you were starting as a grunt—the lowest of the Varia food chain—you were sure that there would be some job that you would have to do.

Before you knew it, you and Alinari were standing in front of the principal’s office, and your companion was already knocking on the door. Less than a few seconds later, there was a voice calling you inside, and the door swung open. Walking into the room after Alinari, you briefly glimpsed Squalo, who was standing near the principal’s desk. You were somewhat surprised to find that Xanxus was not here, but you didn’t show it.

“Voii, so you both decided to show up, didn’t you, trash?” queried the Sword Emperor, his typical swaggering grin settling on his face. 

“We are here,” you remarked obviously, glancing at the floor as you addressed the white-haired man’s previous—rhetorical?—question.

Squalo’s grin didn’t falter, and he just snorted at you. “Cheeky Lightning brat. Better shut up unless you wanna get skewered in Varia HQ. We already have one fucking annoying pipsqueak with enough sarcasm.” 

“Wouldn’t want to get myself killed,” you agreed, waving your hands in front of you defenselessly. As Squalo trained his gaze on you, you couldn’t help wondering who exactly was the person riling up the rest of the Varia with his, her, or their caustic words.

Squalo said nothing in return, but he turned to Alinari, who seemed as if he had a question on his mind.

“Your boss isn’t here?” asked Alinari, blinking his brown eyes and flicking his gaze from the principal—who was shuffling through some papers on his table—to Squalo.

The full-fledged swordsman raised a brow. “Hah? Of course not! The hell would that shitty boss be coming back here for? He’s already made up his mind about you damn brats!”

You and Alinari looked taken aback for a moment, and you just tilted your head to the side. Squalo sure addressed Xanxus strangely; you would have thought that subordinates would show their leader more respect, but you supposed that you were wrong. After all, you had next to no details on how the Varia functioned, besides that they were a very small organization, composed of around thirty—no outsiders knew the exact member count—and worked in absolute secrecy. You weren’t informed of their formalities about properly referring to their boss, but by the way Squalo was talking about Xanxus, you weren’t sure you wanted to find out.

“If you two would please look over these,” interjected Acciai, trying to ignore what was implied about Squalo’s temperament after hearing his thoughts on Xanxus. He held out papers in each of his hands, and you suspected that they were forms for you and Alinari.

“What’re they for?” questioned the tanned teen as you and he approached your principal.

Acciai passed you the documents and then pens, and he explained, “For the proper process of your official leave of this school as well as your joining the Varia.”

You and Alinari were also handed clipboards as there was nowhere for the both of you to sit down. Attaching your papers to the flat wood, you scanned over the relatively meager amount of words for any _specific_ _details_ which might be dangerous if you overlooked them. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but you still queried, “Any catch?”

The principal shook his head. “Everything is direct. I can clarify anything you’re unsure about since the school isn’t trying to pull anything on you.”

 _“Then the Varia’s part?”_ you thought to yourself as you flipped to the second page.

Your brows nearly shot upwards, but instead, you lifted them marginally.

There were some of the necessities you expected—name, date of birth, age, gender, flame type, and weapons of use—but the part that intrigued you the most was just a couple sentences.

“ _By signing here, I recognize that in becoming a member of the Varia, and I will uphold the secrecy of this organization. Revealing important intel about the Varia will cost me my life. Failure of a mission will result in death.”_

“So, we die if we fail a mission,” you stated dryly. You had doubts about that statement. Perhaps, however, it really was true if all Varia agents were Varia Quality and very high-class. 

“And what about it?” retorted Squalo, his gray eyes narrowing. “Wanna back out now?”

With a light shake of your head, you answered firmly, “No. That’s _if_ we fail, right?”

“Voiii, playing it cool, huh,” the white-haired man snorted as he grinned haughtily, “Lightning brat?”

You shrugged your shoulders.

“I’m not stepping down either,” Alinari added on, his brown eyes flashing with a new confidence you’d never beheld before. “Failing a mission—which I’d assume would always be life-or-death, since you’re assassins—can mean that you’re dead because you got killed during it. If you can’t kill the other guy, he’s gonna kill you. So, really, all you’re reiterating is that you fail to kill your opponent, you’ll die.” 

Squalo let out an amused grunt. “Fucking brats.”

 _You both thought you were sharp, didn’t you?_ The late Sword Emperor cracked his knuckles as he chuckled to himself. Well, you’d see about _that_ once you were in the Varia.

Choosing to remain quiet, you and Alinari continued filling out your forms. There wasn’t too much you had to write in, and in a couple minutes, the two of you had thoroughly read through the text and finished penning answers. Before you handed back your paper, however, there was something of which you wanted to make sure.

“Hey,” you spoke to catch Squalo’s attention. The second-in-command of the Varia looked at you idly, and you relayed your concern to him, “Is this some kind of life commitment? As in we can’t leave the Varia if we want to? It doesn’t say anywhere here.”

Blinking at you for a moment, Squalo then laughed scornfully. “Hah! It sure as hell isn’t! The Varia isn’t interested in people who lose their confidence further down the line and think they can’t live up to the Varia Quality anymore.”

“So we can leave the Varia if we want,” you continued, neglecting to let his crude announcement faze you. Your gaze locked with his as your expression remained serious, and you awaited his reaction. You didn’t have any intentions to withdraw from the Varia at the moment, but you didn’t know how things were going to play out years from now. 

“No guarantees you’ll make it out fucking alive,” he announced, his statement sounding more similar to a threat than a mere, enlightening declaration. “How do we know you won’t be trying to sell us out?”

Patiently, Alinari listened to all that had been exchanged between you two and made sure he remembered it all. Acciai, on the other hand, was quite rattled by Squalo’s rough nature. Yes, he’d come across dangerous mafia members before, but the Varia was on a whole new level. He wondered if just their assassination skills were demonic, and if their personalities would fit that description as well.

“All right,” you fired back, returning your school form to Acciai but withholding the one for the Varia. There was also a condition that puzzled you. It was that every Varia member had to know seven languages, and right now, you were only fluent in one, relatively well-versed in another, and studying a third. “Just one more thing. It says a requirement is to be able to speak seven languages…”

“And you pathetic brats can’t.” Squalo rolled his eyes and then shook his head. “What the hell do you know then?”

“Well, we both know Italian, of course,” spoke up Alinari informatively, “and then we’re pretty good with English since we’ve been learning that at school for a long time. And I’m taking German as an extra language.”

You quickly added on, “And I’ve picked up Spanish.”

“We’ll get back to this shit later,” sighed Squalo while he snagged the papers from your and Alinari’s hands. You assumed that he meant that at the Varia’s Headquarters, he’d figure out how to deal with your predicament of only knowing three languages. 

“It doesn’t really matter then—that we don’t fit that requirement?” inquired the student swordsman as he placed his pen back onto the principal’s desk.

“You’re sure as hell not Varia Quality right now anyway,” snorted Squalo contemptuously, “so there are going to be things you have to improve on to become up to those standards. Learning your seven’s one of them.”

You and Alinari nodded. It made sense; being able to communicate effectively and diversely in seven different languages wasn’t an easy feat. Years upon years of study were necessary to build proper pronunciation, understanding, and acknowledgement of language, and you weren’t even sure if you would adequately comprehend seven of them in ten years’ time. You wondered how Squalo and the rest of the Varia pulled that off.

“Voiiii!” Glancing at Squalo, you saw him fold your forms, pocket them, and then proclaim, “We’re done here, then!”

The principal was just looking over the papers you had given to him, and finding nothing wrong about them, he agreed with Squalo. Briskly, the white-haired man said, rather quietly compared to his previous tone, “And if you have anything you want to take with you, trash, you better get it now. Meet me at the front, and don’t draw attention to your sorry asses.”

You and Alinari articulated that you understood, and after Squalo departed, Acciai told the two of you, “The school had already contacted both of your respective families of your decisions to join the Varia.”

“And?” 

“Needless to say, they believe it is a great honor, as do I,” Acciai said, bowing his head slightly and smiling at the two of you. “It makes me proud that students from this school have been chosen to become a part of the Varia.”

Personally, you thought he seemed more elated for his academy’s reputation than for you and Alinari, so you just briefly upturned the sides of your lips. You weren’t one for aimless chatting and pleasantries that added no depth to a conversation.

Bidding him farewell, the pair of you headed to your respective rooms a flight of stairs down from the principal’s office. When you arrived back at your dorm, you decided that there would be no point in taking your school uniform with you, so you laid out the three sets you had on your bed. You had no other clothes besides the loose [f/c] t-shirt and the comfortable black shorts you were wearing—since you were supposed to be in uniform most of the time at school. The only time you were permitted to don whatever clothes you wanted—and even those had to fit in with the school’s limitations—were during dinner and after lessons. Most people stuck with their uniforms, however, since it was too much of a hassle to walk to their dorms and the back to the cafeteria just for a change of clothing.

You pulled open a somewhat large knapsack you had under your bed and stuffed goods for hygiene care into it, all of your socks and folded undergarments—who knew when you would be able to restock yourself with more—and a plastic bag containing your only pair of casual sneakers. After rearranging all of the items inside so that they weren’t simply smashed together disorderedly, you drew the strings on your knapsack and slung it over your shoulder. Lastly, you retrieved your cinquedea from their place beside your bed and then strapped them onto your belt accordingly.

Surveying your room, which wasn’t very large, considering that all students boarded in singles, you realized that you really didn’t have much. Everything you owned was practically placed inside of your bag. Truthfully, you didn’t have much since this was a mafia school. You weren’t here to shirk in your studies and then go off to malls, party, and generally ignore your responsibilities as a student in this academy for mafia children. Without any money for yourself besides the little amount you received from your mother every now and then, you had to rely on the school for all the basics you needed—food, clothing, weapon repairs, somewhere to stay—since it would be provided. You normally didn’t have much to spend anyway, because you were on a half-scholarship, your mother putting in the work to pay for the part not covered by the school’s awarding of merit.

That was another reason why you hated that Squalo had so easily destroyed you in your fight. He had defeated what you had been working to improve on for your whole time at mafia school, and it felt as it were a severe punch to your pride.

It _had_ been. Forget seeming as if it were; that defeat had undoubtedly bitten out a huge chunk of your pride, chewed it up, and spat it out mockingly. You were at this mafia school because you had earned your place here; you weren’t here because you were being forced by your parent or because your family was wealthy enough to send you off to one of the best academies in the country.

Your skill—developed for all these years—had been put to shame by your loss to Squalo, and you planned to make sure that you would never find yourself in a circumstance like that gain. The only way to do so was work hard, learn all you could, and remain confident that you could stand up to the challenges of the Varia.

Closing the door to your room, you left for the front of the school, but you were stopped by a teacher who was coming out of his office. You gritted your teeth and cursed in your head.

“Finished with dinner already?” he asked inquisitively, his glasses reflecting the light of the LED bulbs above.

With a small smile, you waved a hand and then lied with a relaxed countenance, “Yes.” 

Sensing that he was going to ask about why exactly you were hefting a knapsack around, you expounded on the details effortlessly, “I was just packing to move to another room. I requested a room change recently since my neighbors were causing too much of a ruckus. Better settle in now than later!”

“Oh, well, I’m off to dinner then. I do hope you get settled in just fine!” Your untrue explanation seemed to convince your teacher, who offered you a goodbye and kind words before disappearing down the hall towards the cafeteria.

Relieved, you sighed and continued towards the school’s entrance; you really didn’t need these kinds of encounters right now. Fortunately for you, you didn’t run into anyone else, and once you were at your rendezvous point, you saw Alinari—who was sporting his sword and had a similar bag to yours tossed over his shoulder—and Squalo.

Pushing open the door to leave the school, Squalo didn’t say anything as he led the two of you to a black Maserati parked along the sidewalk in the circular courtyard in front of the school. You and Alinari seated yourselves in the back of the vehicle as Squalo took shotgun, and you both set your belongings down. As the car started to move, you buckled yourself in, and you glanced back at the mafia school behind you.

You weren’t going to say that you felt suddenly emotional, and that you were going to dearly miss this mafia school. Yes, you would probably feel a little nostalgic at some points during your work in the Varia, but you didn’t hold many attachments to the academy. You went there for an education, and you had made some friends, but you had to give up the latter for now. With Squalo’s demands set in place, you were not allowed to inform them that you were going to be vanishing from their lives starting tomorrow. Maybe someday you’d get back in contact with them, and you could tell them that you had become a member of the Varia. If you were really concerned about having company and companions, you told yourself that Alinari would be coming with you to the Varia, and he didn’t seem to be a bad person at all. What you were the most disappointed about, you would say, is not being able to contact your mother directly about your decision. You didn’t own a phone—for there really was no reason for you to if you never really left school—and most of the time, your mother never revealed her location for her own safety. You wondered how the academy had gotten a hold of her, but you shook your head. At least she was proud of you; that bolstered your spirits. She always had been supportive of your inclination to tackle the life of being a mafia child.

As you reclined back against your seat, you placed an elbow on car’s armrest and stared out of the window. You didn’t know how long the journey would be, but you would like to try and remember the way—or at least part of it—to the Varia’s Headquarters. 

The four of you, including your driver whom you could see was wearing the Varia’s uniform, sat in silence. You [e/c] eyes flicked back and forth as you watched some buildings flash by, and increasingly, more and more trees. After all, your mafia school generally stayed low on civilians’ radars, as to not draw attention to itself. People only had the idea that it was a selective, private educational institution that rarely had any observers. Invitations were extended to clients—only those associated with the mafia—and all visitations were closely monitored. Not that outsiders of the Mafia World knew; you knew there were on-call illusionists at the academy. (You did take classes about dealing with illusions.) However, you were sure that there had been an exception with the Varia’s stopping at the school.

The staff would make way for the Varia any day.

As the scenery continued to pass by in a blur, you wondered how long it would take for you to arrive at the Varia’s Headquarters. You didn’t feel as if Squalo was going to give you any answers, so you remained quiet; you supposed Alinari had the same thought as you.

Turns out, it took a little more than three hours to arrive anywhere in the general vicinity of the Varia’s Headquarters, as you had been keeping tabs on the digital clock at the front of the car. You could tell that something was different about the atmosphere, and that was caused by nothing other than someone’s very powerful Mist Flames, shrouding the entire area in an illusion. [2] First, you had been driving off the highway onto a rather inconspicuous and small dirt road, and then you were engulfed by an off-white vapor and a mass of trees, their dark green foliage and pines brushing against the car. Your driver seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and he merely continued steering the automobile as if he could navigate an invisible and rather smooth path. At times, however, he would pause for a second, and Squalo would jab a finger in a specific direction, and you would be on your way again.

Alinari and you exchanged looks, and he shook his head as if to tell you that he couldn’t see through these illusions. You did the same, and through the shadows formed as night slowly took over the skies, you could sometimes see smidges of a road. However when you checked again, you saw nothing but leaves, bark, and dense fog. 

You were curious about the power of the illusionist who could sustain such a powerful image over the real landscape.

Around twenty minutes of driving after entering the territory where you could feel the illusionist’s power very strongly, the car began to slow down in front of a clearing—an incredibly expansive one at that, as it stretched meters upon meters back. Understanding that the Varia’s Headquarters was definitely here, you stared keenly at the open space of grass, and you began to rely on your instincts to help you through this one. 

“Get outta the car, trash,” commanded Squalo while he himself left the vehicle. Just as the two of you followed suite and collected your possessions, the car took off into the dark clearing, and in a couple seconds, completely disappeared.

 _Definitely illusions._ You adjusted the bag dangling over your shoulder and refocused your attention onto the clearing. Alinari was doing the same, and his appearance remained unbothered and calm.

“Can’t see through them, can you?” the Varia’s Stategy Captain taunted purposefully. “Yeah, well, we don’t have all day for you brats to figure out what’s real and what’s not, so hurry the hell up and let’s go.”

A quiet hiss left Alinari’s lips, and you and Squalo both turned to look at the brunette, whose eyes were closed. They snapped open a moment later, and he peered upwards, grin set on his face as he commented, “Wow, this place is impressive.” 

“You can see it, then?” prompted Squalo as he gestured to the clearing.

“Yeah, I can see it now,” answered Alinari as he nodded his head. “I was trying to see through the illusions ever since we encountered them after taking that side-road off the highway.”

Squalo’s eyes narrowed. _“That brat… His instincts aren’t that bad.”_ Perhaps Alinari had honed his senses just like a swordsman should.

While Alinari surveyed the Varia’s Headquarters for himself, Squalo turned his attention to you. He could tell you were concentrating very intently, and he pondered over the thought of your actually being able to get past these illusions. The Sword Emperor supposed he had some patience to witness if you would prevail or not.

Once you were ensnared in an illusion, you would need a way to snap yourself out of it, and you believed you found your answer. Your mind was working quickly, and you wondered if overpowering the Mist Flames was an option. [3] You recalled that in class, your professor had said that it was possible, and you were brought back to the fact that Mist Flames also possessed the lowest density of all flames, and therefore the weakest physical power, offensively used, for that matter. Defensively, you weren’t too sure, but you had to give your idea a shot. If you fixated all of your Lightning Flames in a single point with the maximum density you could produce, you were sure that you would be able to create a very minor break in the illusion. 

Unsheathing one of your cinquedea and holding it with your ring hand, you lit the band of metal on your finger. The buzzing of your Lightning Flames filled the air, and Squalo’s and Alinari’s interests were caught by your actions. The green flames climbed along your weapon, and you began to channel your energy to the tip of your blade. 

_“Think… Trust your instincts…”_ you told yourself as you continued to emit Lightning Flames.

Obviously, the Varia’s Headquarters were in front of you somewhere, and now, you were only waiting on your flames to reach their peak density. 

“Hey, Alinari, are there any windows at the front of the HQ?” you asked the brunette, who was unsuspecting of your question.

He glanced at you and then at where the Varia’s manor was, and then he replied in the negative. Meanwhile, Squalo crossed his arms; he was starting to understand what your plan was, and he had to admit that it was rather insightful. You combined your intelligence and instincts, and again, Squalo saw that your flames were very much a part of how you functioned in fights and reacted. You understood the advantages of your flames, and you weren’t hesitant about using them.

“Great.” Last thing you needed was a broken window on your account. With a grin, a jolt of Lightning Flames shot up your hand once more, and a small shiver racked your body. _“Now!”_

Whipping your arm forward with an intense amount of speed and precision, you launched your cinqudea at the allegedly empty space in front of you. Almost as if it had a spirit of its own, your blade ripped through the air, Lightning Flames snapping all along its silver edges. You viewed its straight path before it stopped suddenly and penetrated whatever was in front of it. 

“All right,” you murmured to yourself as you closed your eyes and then opened them to see that the Varia’s Headquarters stood only about fifteen meters ahead of you. Despite the sun’s setting, you could more or less make out some details about the mansion, slightly illuminated by a couple ornate light posts. Four fairly pearly walls of concrete—steadily turning to an ashen color at their corners—surrounded the building, and turrets with black spires protruding from their tops were built at various points along the bulwarks. The Varia’s Headquarters indeed looked grand, with the same pinnacles rising from the white towers all around the mansion. There was a balcony extending from the largest tower, and as your gaze lowered, you saw the curves of three large arch windows—a glistening silver under the hazy light—just peaking above the wall in front of you. Your cinquedea, still blazing with Lightning Flames, was embedded partway into the stone, and you walked towards it to recover your weapon. The area around the place where the short sword had pierced was a bit cracked, and the stone receded back a little in a small crater. 

Once you wrenched your blade out of the bleached brick, you inspected it for any major damage. Luckily, your Lightning Flames had done most of the work, so you returned your cinquedea back to its scabbard before turning to look at Alinari and Squalo fleetingly. They didn’t need to ask you to understand that you had gotten past the illusion.

“Ah, sorry,” you apologized, seeing the quite noticeable indent that you had left in the wall, “I didn’t mean to—” 

“Voiii! This place’s put up with more shit than a puny blade poking into it,” asserted Squalo loudly as he walked past you towards the gate that seemed to be the only entrance to the Varia’s Headquarters from the front. However, he paused to round back on you, and with a grin, he decreed, “You’re gonna fucking fix it later though. Don’t need this place looking like a dump.”

Alinari walked next to you as you sighed and acknowledged a tad unwillingly, “Yeah. Sure. Makes sense.”

The brunette offered you a pat on the back consolingly, and you only averted your eyes to the ground. At least, your efforts hadn’t been in vain; then you’d be repairing a wall for nothing.

The Varia’s Strategy Captain punched a code into the number pad beside the gate, and then he stood back as the bars of metal grinded upwards. You would have thought that there would be more to their security than just a string of digits, but you guessed that people weren’t expected to even make it past the preliminary illusions. Once the way was clear, Squalo sauntered down the shadowed tunnel that had been opened and didn’t bother yelling for you to follow.

Unbeknownst to you and Alinari, Squalo smirked to himself as he walked ahead of you. He was thinking about how your duo had each figured out how to break through the illusions, and he was well-aware that there was a reason why he had picked you two.

Following the white-haired swordsman into the dim passageway, you exhaled quietly. 

So, you were walking into the Varia as a person who wasn’t completely sure if you could leave anymore. After all, there was no written confirmation to say that you were either supposed to be working for the Varia eternally or not. On top of that, if you did attempt to depart from the Varia, there was a high risk that you would be hunted down and killed—at least, that was how you had interpreted Squalo’s statement.

_Reassuring._

Well, you supposed that this was one of the first things you learned about the Varia’s elite.

They _definitely_ ran their Squad however they wanted to, and you were caught up in the mess of it all.

With a thoughtful tilt of your head, you decided to amend your previous assumption. If the Varia was such a “mess,” then it wouldn’t be functioning today. There was something you had to understand; you just needed to adapt to the eccentric ways of the Varia, and it would no longer seem to be downright chaos.

 _“No,”_ you corrected yourself inaudibly, _“it’d be a lifestyle. Varia lifestyle.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: I guess you can see some of the confidence required for the Varia coming out in the reader. All of the Varia elite are so confident in their skills (I admire that‼), and I think some of that already translates into the reader’s actions and thoughts as well. She’s not really arrogant, because she knows where her limits are, and at the moment, she knows that she has a lot to work on. 
> 
> [2]: I think the Varia’s Headquarters would have illusions up to protect its location as the whole organization is very secretive anyway. They’d probably have a wide radius around the building in which illusions would mask the way to the Varia HQ. (And of course, Squalo—really, shouldn’t all the Varia members? (if they’re that Quality)—can see through these illusions.)
> 
> [3]: It’s possible to overpower flames. (ie. in Hibari and Gamma’s fight when the former is able to break through Gamma’s Lightning Flames). Also, the reader’s way of breaking through the illusion was kind of the same as when Yamamoto cast Rain Flames on Genkishi to slow him down the second time they fought (during Choice), and with Genkishi’s slower movements in comparison to the rest of his illusions, he could see where Genkishi was. That was his way of “breaking” the illusion. Reader is causing a disturbance in the illusion (Mist Flames) herself by using her Lightning Flames. Her instincts tell her that there was something else behind the illusion of a simple clearing—the Varia HQ. Unlike Alinari and Squalo—because her instincts aren’t as honed as theirs—she needs a physical way to visualize that fact which is why she uses her Lightning Flames + cinquedea to pierce the building. If it wasn’t such a powerful illusion, she probably wouldn’t need to, but these illusions are different than the ones she’d practiced on at school.


	6. Starting to Wade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Name] discovers there’s a lot more to the Varia. And there’s a lot more for her to learn, too.

Appreciating the splendor of the inside of the Varia’s Headquarters, you and Alinari gazed around as Squalo called someone—who you supposed was a grunt—to the foyer. It wasn’t long before a man with dark brown hair tied back into a bun, sharp eyes of a matching color, a slightly olive complexion, and a serious expression approached the three of you. He directed a sharp salute to Squalo who waved him off and then demanded, “Voi! Take these new brats to get suited up properly. Show them the basic shit.”

“Right, Strategy Captain Squalo!” The man who was supposed to guide you snapped to attention again, and then he motioned for you and Alinari to follow him.

You didn’t cast Squalo another glance as you were directed down the hall towards your left while the white-haired man took a right and away from your group. Switching the shoulder your bag’s straps were hanging over, you peered at the mansion’s various embellishments. The molding at the junction of the floors and marble walls was a shade of matt gold, which complemented the large gunmetal tiles glistening beneath your feet. When you looked at your surroundings at eyelevel, you noticed that the russet doors were relatively plain, but the casing around them was ornately carved in precise cuts and patterns. The windows to your left nearly stretched the length of the walls, and grilles of silver metal divided the glass arches into half-circles and rectangles. Upon glancing above, you noticed that the wooden ceiling was curved upwards, dark brown beams of the same material bending along its arc. There were obvious showings of wear on several planks which made up the ceiling, and you speculated for how long the Varia’s Headquarters had been standing.

“Well, hell, I guess I’ll start with all the boring introductions,” pronounced the man who was walking ahead of you and Alinari. He stopped and turned to the two of you, his lips forming a simple line. You took a moment to swiftly study his face; his eyes clearly captured your interest for the few seconds you had bothered to observe his features. They held the same look that you had seen in Xanxus’s, Squalo’s, and every other professional mafia member’s eyes. 

It was the glint in them that revealed it all—the reflection of knowing that the Mafia World was not a joke, and to survive, it was “kill or be killed.” And surely, they had been the ones to take the lives.

Did your eyes reflect that same look?

You were shaken from your wandering thoughts by the assassin who was leading you throughout the mansion.

“Name’s Mauro, and I’m a part of Senior Officer Belphegor’s division,” stated the man while leaning against the wall. “But whatever, we’re all grunts to them, so more than half the time they grab whoever they want for a mission. Barely any distinctions about who belongs to whose unit anymore.

“No one really cares about rank anyway, at least, for the grunts like us. The only time rank really matters is for the top seven members, and everyone knows that the Boss—well—is the Boss. Don’t mess with him,” continued Mauro warningly, shaking his head.

You were struck with the idea before when you had heard how Squalo had called Xanxus a “shitty boss.” The Varia hadn’t really seemed to be the type of group to follow the most _orthodox_ methods when it came to how it functioned. You weren’t shocked that rank only counted when it came to the elite. 

Nevertheless, Mauro seemed rather “talkative”; at least, “talkative” in comparison to what you originally suspected him to be like. 

“I’ll keep that in mind, and by the way, I’m Raimondo Alinari.” The brunette beside you offered Mauro a short wave.

“[Name] [Last Name],” you said a little off-handedly after you could tell that Mauro was expecting your name as well.

“How old are you two?” inquired the man, who you thought appeared to be at least past twenty-five.

You and Alinari both answered with your respective ages, and seemingly unfazed by the fact you were teens, Mauro told you that he was twenty-six. 

“Anyway, eh, since that’s over with,” Mauro murmured while withdrawing some objects from his pocket, “I’m supposed to give you guys some stuff.”

“All right,” Alinari acknowledged for the two of you.

Handing you each a small gray device with a button in its center and what seemed to be a black flip-phone, Mauro enlightened you both on their details, “The round gray one is for your ear; tap the button to talk to other people. Usually you wear it during missions. It’s already synced to the phone. You can adjust frequencies with the phone to be able to communicate with different people. Phone’s not for recreational purposes, and you’ll sometimes receive orders through it, so make sure you’re checking it at all times. Generally, someone will stop by and tell you what your assignment is, but still keep an eye on that phone too. It becomes second nature in a couple days, really.”

Mauro asked if either of you had any questions, and when you both replied in the negative, he said a bit jokingly, “If you think the phone’s a piece of junk, you’re wrong. The style’s just old, but it holds up well.”

You and Alianri exchanged a look and then nodded your heads. “Good to know.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just show you the important parts around HQ, and you can figure out the rest in your own time.”

The adult spoke informatively, “So first floor’s got all of the elite members’ quarters plus their offices, all in the east wing of the mansion. No one goes there unless you’ve been assigned to deliver something or have to report in.”

The three of you stopped at the upcoming corner, and Mauro cautioned, “Down that way”—he pointed a finger towards the hallway to his right, and you and Alinari gazed in that direction—“and you’ll find the elite’s area.

“Now to the left, there’s the hangar in the west”—you wondered what kinds of aircrafts the Varia had—“along with the garages with cars and motorcycles. You’ll usually go that way if you have a mission since you have to get some mode of transportation out of here. There’s also an underground level for engineering labs and other tech and mechanics. But anyway, let’s go to the next level.”

After climbing a flight of steps, you were on the second floor, which didn’t look too different from the first. There were the same colored tiles and walls and various paintings, none of which really caught your interest at the moment. Maybe you’d go back and check them out later.

Mauro stopped you and Alinari at a pair of double doors to your right—as the left wall, again, was lined with windows—and explained, “That’s the entrance to the kitchen. There’s usually a lot of food there as chefs are mainly on-call whenever, considering that we don’t have regular hours here for work or sleep. It’s kind of an independent thing, and no one really eats together because our schedules might be very different depending on missions and all. You’re free to drop in and grab whatever you want, but only rules are, don’t make a mess of things, or someone’s gonna shoot your ass.”

“Thanks for telling us all this,” remarked Alinari sincerely, casting a wary look at the kitchen doors.

“Of course, why the hell would I let you guys wander around here not knowing anything about how this place works?” Mauro snorted, rolling his eyes. “What’d be the point of getting new recruits if we let them die because they didn’t know anything about HQ? More work for the higher-ups—especially Strategy Captain Squalo—and he’s already pissed off doing all the work he does now.

“He shouts enough, but when you get him mad, he shouts at everyone even more.” Mauro ended his statement with a slight sigh, and you knew why. Squalo hadn’t even been that boisterous at your school, but you could imagine how loud his voice could get and how far it would echo in a mansion as massive as this one.

In a couple short statements, Mauro told you and Alinari what else was on the second floor besides the kitchen—training rooms, training rooms, and more training rooms. There were lots of machines for various exercises and drills and plenty of equipment for the mere thirty-two members of the Varia to use. (Mauro had answered your question about how many people were in the Varia.)

When your group was moving towards the next set of stairs to take up, you were halted by a lively voice addressing Mauro.

“Mauro, are these our new recruits?”

Standing next to you was a man with multi-colored hair styled in three different ways—a scarlet mohawk, a swish of lime green locks on the right, and a hazel shaven patch on the left of his head. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses with a red frame, and around his neck dangled a tangerine orange boa. His fashion somehow complemented the black and beige of his Varia uniform and the white of his gloves, and you wondered who he was. 

“Yeah, Luss,” answered Mauro before grinning at the newcomer. 

The unknown man let out a small cheer and then clapped his hands together. He announced gleefully, “Oh, I’ve been waiting to see who the special new ones were!”

You noted your first point about this Varia member: He was indeed exuberant—and almost unbelievably so—for his line of work.

“And by the way, I’m Lussuria, the Varia’s very own Sun Guardian! I don’t mind one bit if you call me ‘Luss,’” proclaimed the vivaciously dressed man in a welcoming voice while placing his hands on his hips. “What are your names, hmm?”

Again, Alinari spoke up before you, “I’m Raimondo Alinari. Eighteen.”

“[Name] [Last Name],” you repeated not even fifteen minutes after the first time you had done so. “I’m seventeen.”

“Having such fresh faces around here will be wonderful!” declared Lussuria musically with a bright smile. “It’s been a while since we’ve had some new recruits.”

Before you could say anything, Lussuria draped his arms over your and Alinari’s shoulders and exclaimed, “Oh! I’m interrupting your little guided tour of the headquarters, aren’t I? Well, I’ll hurry up and be on my way!” 

He cleared his throat before giving a gentle pat to your arm and turning his attention to you then Alinari. “HQ can be quite rambunctious sometimes, considering all the lovely people we have living here~ Buuuut”—Lussuria pointed his pinkies upwards—“I’m sure you’ll get used to the cozy atmosphere in no time!”

You had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite the “cozy” feeling of home to which you were accustomed.

This time tapping Alinari’s and your heads, Lussuria chuckled and then waved to all three of you. “Anyway! I better get going! I hope you find that the Varia HQ is the perfect home for you, mmhmm! If you ever want to chat, I would love to! Bye-bye!”

“See you,” Mauro returned, watching as Lussuria left for the kitchen. 

“Well, he seemed nice,” commented Alinari, taken aback by the man’s vibrant attitude. “Is he always like that?”

“Luss, one of the elite, is generally the nicest to everyone around here,” the male with dark hair answered, “and he seems to enjoy taking care of the others. But he’s not without his quirks, just like the rest of us.”

You smiled at Mauro’s remark and said, “I guess it’s good to know that everyone around here is pretty unique, then.” You liked it when people had their own characters and weren’t inclined to change themselves just for the sake of others. The Varia didn’t seem to be full of the kinds of fake people you’d come across before.

“You bet. No one around here really cares about your oddities, because all that matters is your skill and how well you do your job. That’s how people judge you here. Not on standards that can be superficial, like appearance or gender,” Mauro responded openly, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I mean, who the hell has time to start making up shit about someone because of how they look? If you got time for that in the Varia, then you’re slacking. Better spend your time finishing up mission reports and other paperwork, because you’ll get a lot of that around here too.”

Even though his words weren’t the prettiest, you grinned even wider. That was reassuring. You couldn’t count how many times someone had underestimated you because you were female. At least you were less likely to come across that kind of prejudice around here, according to Mauro. 

You continued up to the third story, and you immediately noticed that there were many doors on both the walls at your sides. There were golden, metal tags embedded on each of the slabs of wood, and they all had various numbers etched onto them. Mauro informed you and Alinari that this was the floor with all of the rest of the members’ quarters, organized by squadron. 

“Hmm, well, let’s see,” Mauro mused while pulling a folded square of paper out of his jacket. “Yup, I remembered correctly—which units you’ll be placed in.”

Since you didn’t know the personalities of most of the Varia elite, you couldn’t say that you felt apprehensive about what Mauro was about to tell you. 

“So, you, Raimondo—you’ll be a part of Strategy Captain’s Squalo’s division,” revealed Mauro, a slight smile on his face. “That’s not so bad. Maybe he decided you should be in his squad because of that sword on your back.”

“Haha,” chuckled Alinari while peeking at the weapon slung over his shoulder, “maybe so. I wonder if he’d teach me anything.”

“Strategy Captain Squalo’s busy enough, so I wouldn’t bet on it,” Mauro replied realistically, stuffing the small paper back into his pocket. “And you, [Name], looks like you’re lucky. You’re in the Boss’s direct command unit.”

[1] As he looked at you a bit oddly,you knew that his remark was not short of sarcasm. Without batting an eye, you queried, more curiously than in a scared manner, “Is it that bad?”

“Boss’s prone to having a couple outbursts if something’s pissed him off enough. Just watch out if you have to approach him after he’s been upset. But generally, he rarely leaves his office—or at least, we rarely see him outside of his office.” Mauro rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “But anyway, just finding your rooms, uniforms and then fourth floor, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“What kinds of things does he get mad at?” you questioned, unwilling to let the subject drop so easily. You didn’t want to get on your boss’s bad side, after all, so you might as well pick up as much information possible about what set him off. 

Mauro walked down the hall, and you both followed before he returned, “I’m not sure… I do know that Strategy Captain Squalo takes the brunt of the rage from him, but I think that he really, _really_ just dislikes incompetence.”

So, if you didn’t act rashly, you should be all right… You were hoping that was the case, because you were not for having Xanxus ready to beat you up. If the second-in-command Squalo could defeat you so easily, then you didn’t want to think about how effortlessly the Boss could destroy you.

“And—ah!” Mauro stopped at the room which was labelled “287” and jabbed a thumb at it. “This is yours, Alinari. You can drop your stuff inside, if you want.”

“Nice, thanks.” The brunette opened the door wide enough to place his bag and sword inside and then followed after you and Mauro.

Your room, numbered as “1132” was near the end of the hallway, and you deposited your belongings inside and then shut the door behind you. After showing you your quarters, Mauro led you and Alinari to another pair of closed doors, which was the floor’s uniform closet. Upon opening them, Mauro waved a hand at the shelves, stacked with clothing of beige, white, and sleek black and pressed against the storage room’s walls. 

“Here’s where we have uniforms,” Mauro elaborated as he motioned for you and Alinari to head inside the closet. “There’re quite a few variations on the jackets, so pick whatever you want.”

He waited outside while the both of you poked around at the collection of the numerous Varia uniforms and searched for your appropriate sizes. Stopping your gaze on one of the rows marked with a “[clothing size]” sticker, you unfolded a jacket with a design that you liked and then draped it over your arm.

“Make sure you grab some training clothes and stuff to wear underneath the standard jacket,” announced Mauro from his post outside the closet.

You and Alinari both let Mauro know that you had heard him, and you continued to pile a number of clothes on top of your right arm. After acquiring three sets of the standard uniform—complete with the jacket, pants, and white-button-up—you also snagged two pairs of black shorts and t-shirts which you supposed were for training. Tucking a fairly balanced amount of garments under each of your arms, you walked after Alinari, who had also finished collecting his uniforms.

“You’re responsible for your own laundry,” Mauro told you and Alinari, “and the laundry room is right next to the uniform closet.”

When you and the brunette had returned from stowing your new uniforms inside your rooms, Mauro stated, almost as if the thought had just come back to him, “Oh, yeah. Everyone has their own bathrooms, but if you start wasting water and stuff, you’re gonna get hunted down.”

“‘Hunted down’?” you echoed incredulously while the three of you climbed the stairs to the next floor.

“One of the higher-ups is really ‘frugal’—more like stingy—when it comes to money,” relayed Mauro with a faint grin. “So watch out how you use stuff around here. If he thinks you’re wasting resources, he’ll come after you.”

_Just who else lived here?_

The fourth story of the Varia’s Headquarters was smaller than the others, and it was mainly full of rooms with documents, texts, and other information to be processed and placed in the squad’s personal archives. There was a library, but you weren’t sure what kinds of books were inside as Mauro had only briefly opened and then closed its door just to let you have a quick glance. Most of the other rooms had multiple file cabinets and other cardboard boxes packed with manila folders. Mauro said that you would be visiting this floor frequently if you were tasked with gathering intel and reorganizing data.

“That’s really all there is to this place,” concluded Mauro with a tiny shrug. “Of course, you’ll have to figure out stuff on your own too, since I’m not going to tell you everything.”

As you descended back down the steps to find your rooms again, Alinari caught Mauro’s attention and queried, “If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been here for?” 

Mauro didn’t hesitate a moment. “Eh. I’d say seven years.”

There was a pause before Alinari voiced his thoughts, which somewhat mirrored yours.

“For some reason, I had the feeling that everyone in the Varia would be a little bit like Squalo or—just”—Alinari stared upwards thoughtfully—“not as approachable as you.”

The man with dark hair laughed.

“Yeah, well, how the hell do you think _we_ would survive if we acted like the higher-ups all the time? Disrespecting each other every day? Going-neck-and-neck at every verbal jab they throw at one another? They’d need more recruits every day if that were to happen,” announced Mauro with a sigh. Before you or Alinari could comment—or really question what exactly he was talking about—your fellow Varia member spoke up again.

“I mean, yeah, we’re assassins, and we kill for a living, but why the hell would we want to be killing each other if we’re trying to accomplish the same thing? And who the fuck wants to pick a fight with someone else who’s Varia Quality for the fun of it?” 

The question he posed did make you and Alinari stop and think for a second.

“Sure, we all’re Varia Quality, but I still wouldn’t want to, because I like being in good condition for my next mission. No one here besides the higher-ups likes threatening each other all the time, but I have known a couple recruits who’d decided to be stupid enough to stir up shit around here. Don’t gotta say it, but I will anyway—they didn’t stick around too long.”

You pondered over what Mauro had said, and you decided that you would definitely take his words into consideration for your own safety. As the three of you stood at the corner of two halls, Mauro turned to you and Alinari and grinned. “And, who said the higher-ups aren’t ‘friendly’? Those guys are crazy sometimes, and sometimes they treat us like shit, but there are times when they can be surprisingly nicer than normal.”

He didn’t let that “comforting” statement settle for too long before adding on, “Those times are rarer than a blue moon, though. And, you gotta figure out their good moods and all. You’ll see what I mean, but for the meantime, get used to being called ‘trash’ and ‘scum.’”

“Didn’t expect anything less,” you returned before smiling a little, already familiarized with the choice vocabulary due to your previous encounters with Squalo. “And thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks for the tips, Mauro,” chipped in Alinari and waving at the man who was already going on his way. 

Briefly, he turned to glance at you both, and despite appearing stern, he advised cheekily, “Yeah, yeah, just don’t die.”

When he disappeared around the corner, Alinari questioned pensively, “What do you think he meant by saying that the higher-ups always are trying to kill each other?”

“Don’t know,” you replied reasonably, “but I don’t really want to find out, exactly. We’ll see it when we come across it, but I’m not going to be poking my nose around where it doesn’t belong.”

“Sounds just like you.” Alinari nodded his head. “See you around.”

“Yeah, you too.”

You headed down the hall and strolled into your room. Flicking on the lights, you surveyed your lodgings and found that you were satisfied with what you had. Your room was furnished with a wooden desk wide enough for a couple textbooks to be laid flat across it, and there was a matching chair as well. A bed—probably a single [2]—rested in the right corner diagonally across from the door, and white sheets and blankets covered the mattress completely. Propped against the headboard, two crimson pillows sat upright, fluffed up and reminding you that night had already taken over the day. 

Before venturing further into the room, you plucked off your boots and stowed them neatly beside the door and below the light switch. You then examined the bathroom, which was rather small, but you were very grateful that you would have your much-needed privacy. Exiting the restroom, you rummaged through the dresser where you had stashed the outfits you had just recently acquired. You decided that you would use one of the sets of training clothes as your pajamas until you had washed the casual attire you were wearing now. Rolling your shoulders, you returned to the washroom and took an invigorating shower.

After bathing, brushing your teeth, and changing into the clean Varia-issued clothing, you sat down at your desk, only to find a yellow sheet of paper on it. It was the form—or rather, a copy of it—you had filled out for the Varia.

Xanxus’s signature was signed at the bottom, and you were somewhat surprised by his handwriting. His penmanship was sharp, but for some reason, you found that it accurately described the first impression you had of him. Calculating, perceptive, and intelligent, underneath the basic face of apathy and strength most saw in him. There was a hidden elegance to his lettering, concealed in the seemingly rough strokes of ink. 

“Huh.” However, you couldn’t exactly pin _what_ it was about his script that held your interest.

Choosing to read over the details of the document again, you scanned over the same few sentences about your salary a couple times. The simple wages that you would earn working around the Varia’s Headquarters wasn’t bad, and you were just happy that you would have _your own_ money to use for once. One part of the section made you inquisitive. _“Further payments—besides the salary you receive when working at the Headquarters—are dependent on missions you accomplish.”_

You pondered a little over what “dependent on missions” meant in terms of your pay. Perhaps that had to do with the difficulty of the assignment? You shrugged off your assumptions. Money wasn’t your biggest concern right now, because you wouldn’t even be making anything if you died due to lack of skill.

Your first priority was to train and learn all you could about being Varia Quality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: there’s something that Mauro is curious about in regards to reader’s squad placement. He doesn’t say anything about it though… It’ll be revealed later heheh
> 
> [2]: a twin according to American mattress sizing
> 
> An hc I have about the Varia is that they really don’t care about what their recruits look like or what their gender is at all as long as they get their jobs done and are Varia Quality. I mean, they could have judged and rejected Mammon for looking like a baby, Belphegor for having his bangs over his eyes, Lussuria for dressing so colorfully and fawning over certain men… But they don’t (or at least, voice those opinions). I know that some people think that the Varia would be full of sexist jerks, and maybe they really are, but idk that just doesn’t sit with me. There’s no canon evidence that they are or aren’t. Because by analyzing the kinds of people that make up their squad with all different personalities and appearances, it’s clear that Varia wants the best only, regardless of appearances or sexuality. + they never dropped comments about women being less capable than men, and I believe they have a female recruit (in ch. 134)


	7. In Knee-Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, a bunch of wires, a monotonous teen, and a flying wine glass weren’t on the list of what [Name] had foreseen in her first day with the Varia.

“Ah… What time am I supposed to wake up at?” you muttered blearily, hand haphazardly slapping the nightstand beside your bed for the phone you had received yesterday. You snapped it open and instantly regretted the action, for the glowing screen cast unwanted light on your drowsy eyes. Discovering that it was seven-eighteen in the morning and feeling your stomach’s grumbling, you figured you should rise from bed. Better to wake up early than sleep in and have someone policing you because you were late. After all, this was your first official day as a Varia member.

No one had sent you any messages about your first assignment, but you prepared yourself for whatever might come your way today. Perhaps, you’d find supplies to repair the wall you had damaged without Squalo having to seek you out for it.

Properly dressing yourself, you tugged on your Varia uniform and grunted softly when your lower back stung faintly. Back at school, you’d had your bruises minimally healed with some Sun Flames the day that you had received the injuries, but the affected area still ached sometimes. After all, your academy’s policy about Sun Flames and students’ wounds was strict and dictated that nurses should only use the flames to speed up the recovery process a little, but not to rid pupils of the wounds completely. That would make you complacent towards the reality that under most circumstances in the Mafia World, you would have to steel yourself towards the feelings of pain.

After making sure that you were presentable, you headed out of your room, your cinquedea snugly resting in their places against your hips. Was it standard procedure to wear your weapons around Headquarters? You shrugged and went on your way. Best to stay prepared at all times.

You had made it to the second floor, and you were going to cross the hall towards the kitchen, but you suddenly stopped, sensing something peculiar about your surroundings. No, there weren’t illusions… Peering upwards at the chandeliers, you then inspected the aisle in front of you. Experimentally, you tilted your head side to side, an odd sparkle of pearly silver dancing every so often in the middle of your path.

“Huh?” You stepped to your left and then to your right, and you marveled at how there seemed to be more glints of reflected light shimmering in the hall.

Crouching down, you examined the situation in front of you at a different angle, and that was when you noticed the dashes of shiny platinum stretching from wall to wall. They completely blocked any normal entry to the kitchen, which was at the end of this maze of _wires_ , you concluded. To test your theory, you took a couple, deliberate paces forward, and then something, cool and thin, gently pressed against various parts of your body. You felt the metal strands dig into your clothes weakly, and you confidently reaffirmed that someone had trapped this hall with wires. _Why_ , you had no idea, but you did know that you were hungry, and you wanted food.

And these wires were blocking you. 

“Who the hell thinks this is funny? This isn’t some form of security, is it?” you questioned irritably, back-tracking and raising a hand in annoyance. There was no way that Xanxus approved of this—this inconvenience. And your boss _really_ didn’t seem like the type of person to enjoy being bothered.

With your fingers resting on the handles of your cinquedea, you thought to yourself, “Well, I’ll do him a favor, then, I guess.”

You ran forward, drawing your weapons and immediately striking at the troublesome wires. Aiming precisely and identifying where each of the nuisances was, you continued to slash them all down, the flicks of your wrists synchronizing with the swift movements of your careful feet. If you had extended your arms too much, then you risked getting them caught in the web of wires, so you kept your motions limited. Though, to feel the taut metal threads instantly snapping under the pressure of your blades satisfied you, and you allowed a tiny smirk to form on your face.

Within seconds—you always felt that time passed much faster when you were in action—the wires were reduced to a pile of scraps. You glanced behind you, and seeing that there were no more abnormal glimmers of light down the hall, you nodded your head in contentment. Sheathing your cinquedea, you stared at the tangle of wires at your feet and pushed it towards the side of the hall with your boot. 

“You know, Bel-sempai [1] is going to get mad at you for doing that,” drawled an unfamiliar voice, laden with monotony, “but I guess I would have done the same thing. Making Bel-sempai angry is pretty amusing.”

Looking up, you saw someone—who could be a teen as well—dressed in the Varia’s uniform and donning a gigantic, black frog hat. He had mint-colored hair, and underneath the far corners of his teal eyes, there were two, small indigo triangles.

“‘Bel-sempai’?” you echoed dubiously, having never heard the suffix before in Italian at all. Your mind worked quickly; “Bel” sounded suspiciously short for “Belphegor.” “Is that Senior Officer Belphegor?”

“Oh.” The stranger shrugged and ignored your question. “Captain did say something about getting more recruits. You must be one of them.”

He glanced at you without changing his stoic expression, and then he slapped a fist against an upturned palm. “Ah, you don’t know who Bel-sempai is. Wow”—the dullness in his tone didn’t transform into shock, and you raised a brow—“you address him so formally. He’s nothing but a stupid fake prince that makes me wear this frog hat.”

“Then who are you?” you asked somewhat guardedly, picking up the bundle of clipped metal and sending the Varia member a cautious look. You decided to disregard Fran’s opinion of Belphegor for now.

“Fran.” The mint-haired newcomer followed you into the kitchen, and you disposed of the wires in the trash can near the door. 

“[Name] [Last Name],” you answered out of common practice. “I’m seventeen.”

While you surveyed the relatively empty room, you made your way to one of the unoccupied sinks and washed your hands. Fran was still behind you, and you heard him announce in what you assumed was his permanently default, flat tone, “Me too.”

Choosing not to reply and instead seek out some food, you rummaged through one of the refrigerators and withdrew a jug of [favorite morning drink]. As you poured yourself a cup, you queried out of courtesy, “Want any?”

Fran nodded, and you acquired him his own glass before putting the container of [favorite morning drink] back to its place. You headed towards a vacant table—round and a pale brown—with a couple chairs surrounding it, and you set your drink down on the surface. When the mint-haired teen did the same, you supposed that he was going to be your company this morning. You didn’t _really_ mind him; perhaps you could learn more about the Varia from what he could tell you, and maybe he’d even direct you to where you could obtain supplies for repairing the wall.

The two of you went off to gather your breakfasts, and you passed by the single chef on duty, who appeared to be relaxing a bit. He idly sat on one of the barstools beside the high counter, and he sipped at his mug of coffee absently. How early he must have awoken in order to prepare most of the food you saw around you. You hoped that you would never have to get up at that time, but you knew that probably would, at some point. Opening many of the nearby cabinets for a plate, you decided to worry about that later, and instead, you began searching for your breakfast.

When you’d collected everything you needed, you returned to your table to find Fran already munching on some colorful cereal. Seating yourself across from him, so that you were facing the door, you set down your dish and started to eat as well. You asked him a couple things, including what “sempai” meant, and he told you it was a suffix used in Japanese. With a confused look, you contemplated why he would be spouting Japanese terms and then shook your head. Perhaps, though, you could pick up Japanese as another language to study. You remembered that the Vongola _did_ have some affiliation in the respective Asian country, so maybe it would be advantageous to learn the language.

“So, how long have you been here?” you questioned, lifting up a fork in one of your hands. 

“Six years.” [2]

Why were all the people you met here for so long…

“Did you get recruited by Captain Squalo too?”

You probably wouldn’t have asked that if you had predicted what would happen.

Fran started—what you didn’t know would become akin to the introduction of a monologue—emotionlessly, “I was brought to this stupid place against my will, all thanks to my master who has no sense of intelligence whatsoever. He thought it was a good idea for me to get put here, so I could practice my illusions with a bunch of crazy people, and he said that I’d fit in. I don’t get how he thought I would like having to put up with an idiotic fake prince, an old man who’s a pervert—”

“I didn’t mean to ask you about your life’s story,” you cut in a tad dryly, folding your arms over one another. At least you had learned that he was an illusionist.

“But,” answered Fran, shrugging his shoulders listlessly, “that’s how I got recruited.”

There was a brief pause—while you processed just _what_ it was about Fran, besides his detached tone, that unsettled you somewhat—before you continued, “I have something else I wanted to ask—”

It seemed like your conversation was just bound to have you both interrupting one another.

The mint-haired teen propped his elbows onto the table and declared drearily, “[Name]-san asks a lot of questions.”

You ignored the unknown suffix he had added to your name, and instead, you focused your attention on your inquiry. 

“Do you know any people in the Boss’s unit?” you probed, wondering if Fran could provide you with any information. It would be important for you to at least know the names of some of the people with whom you might be working. 

Simply blinking his eyes, Fran asked his own question, “Are you in the Boss’s unit?”

“Yeah.” You stared at the teen suspiciously and then went back to your breakfast.

“Ohhh, Captain must have really seen something in you,” announced Fran indifferently. “Only people he thinks can survive the Boss’s treatment get put into that squad.”

“What…” Your hand loosely clutched your cup of [favorite morning drink], and you snapped your gaze to Fran. “Then who exactly is in the Boss’s squad?”

The mint-haired illusionist finished his zwieback bread with strawberry jam and began, “There’s—”

“The prince has found target practice!” 

The next thing that you saw was streaks of silver, and then Fran was teetering forward at the sudden impact of objects slamming into his hat. For the most part, however, the teen seemed immune to the unprecedented attack, and he casually poked a peach slice with his fork. Warily, you glanced behind your companion seated at your table, and you noticed a blonde with a silver crown that was perched in his unruly tresses. His bangs covered his eyes, and you saw his lips turn downwards in a frown. 

“Stupid frog, _you_ were the one who got rid of the prince’s work outside,” accused the blonde, flashing a couple strangely curved knives in his hands. 

In a second, they joined the other blades lodged in Fran’s hat, and you raised a brow at the unidentified Varia member who was referring to himself as a prince. You guessed that he was one of the superiors who didn’t mind starting skirmishes among the elite.

“Bel-sempai, you got it wrong, as usual. I didn’t do anything. She did it all,” droned Fran, waving his fork in your direction as he continued to eat his fruits. “[Name]-san destroyed your wires, Bel-sempai. You’re weak.”

 _So this was Belphegor._

The Varia really was full of unique people. It was somewhat refreshing, but at the same time, you were a bit alarmed by the two’s interactions.

“Haah?” Now that Belphegor had noted your presence, you immediately went on-guard, setting your cutlery back down on your plate and readying your hands to wield your weapons. 

You ducked forward in time to avoid the knives which embedded themselves in the cushion on the back of your chair. About to brandish your cinquedea and retaliate, you remembered what Mauro had told you about fights among the Varia’s top members, and instead, you took to dodging all of the blades he fired at you.

“Next time, why don’t you leave your trap somewhere else that’s not as frequently visited? Then I won’t have to take it down,” you recommended daringly, leaning to your left and letting more knives whizz past your head. “I mean, it’s helpful for stopping intruders, but not in front of the kitchen.”

“Unless the intruders want to raid our kitchen,” pointed out Fran unhelpfully, causing more of Belphegor’s blades to impale his enormous hat. “Ouch.”

“Don’t tell the prince what to do, stupid commoner,” retorted the blonde tersely, momentarily stopping his barrage of knives. “And shut up, idiotic frog.”

You realized that Belphegor was referring to you as the “stupid commoner,” and you weren’t sure how you should react to that. Maybe you really shouldn’t have said anything to him; after all, it wasn’t as if you _wanted_ to be placed on the blonde’s hit-list and have him out to get you. Debating whether or not you should apologize to Belphegor—since he seemed easily riled up and a tad violent—you listened to the next comment that Fran made.

“Bel-sempai, that’s not very nice you know. You’re attacking [Name]-san,” Fran observed blandly, finishing off the peaches he had had in a bowl decorated with lily pads. “But then again, you always harass people, so I guess you really are just messed up.”

Fran really was exemplary at provoking people, especially Belphegor. If the teen was one of the Varia’s elite, you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he was another cause of the frequent fights that broke out among your superiors.

Having finished his breakfast, Fran left his plates at the table and stood up, so that when Belphegor launched more of his knives at him, they dove straight into his back. Your eyes widened, and you were thoroughly surprised to see that none of his blood had been spilled. His lack of a response didn’t faze you as much, but you were still a little unnerved by Fran’s behavior.

“Please stop, Bel-sempai. You always ruin my day,” complained Fran, turning around to look at the blonde. “Ah. Well. Your existence in itself is pretty horrible, so you’d ruin anyone’s day—” 

“I’ll _kill_ you!”

Now that Belphegor’s attention had been diverted back to the mint-haired illusionist, you began prying the blades out of your chair. Somehow, during the time that it had taken you to remove the eleven knives, Belphegor had gotten Fran in a headlock. To you, it looked pretty outrageous, considering how Fran’s frog hat was ridiculously large and practically blocked Belphegor’s face from view.

Supposing that you should help the teen, you called out, “Hey. Uh. Here are your knives back, if you need them, Senior Officer—Prince?—Belphegor.”

Really, you didn’t know what you should call him, but as long as he didn’t aim those knives at you, you were good.

The blonde relinquished his hold on Fran’s neck, and the seemingly impassive teen glanced in your direction. “Ah. Thank you~ [Name]-san.” 

You suspected that Belphegor was mulling over his thoughts about you—whether or not he should forgive you for decimating his “trap” outside since you addressed him quite prestigiously. He regarded you in silence, and then a grin, full of white teeth, formed on his lips when he accepted the knives you had in your hand. No doubt, you were interesting, the Varia’s Storm Guardian believed.

“[Name]-san, you’re not supposed to give them back to him.” Fran deadpanned at you, and you lifted your shoulders and let them fall, a confused expression crossing your face. What _were_ you supposed to do around these two, then? You did _not_ want to get caught up in the obviously recurrent scuffles between them.

“Shut it frog, this commoner is better than you, at least,” pronounced Belphegor sharply, stabbing the knives—the very ones you had just returned—into Fran’s hat. 

“You’re terrible, Bel-sempai.” Fran brushed by the blonde. “I’m going to tell the long-haired idiotic Captain on you.”

“ _Hah_ , why even bother? Like that stupid shark would even listen to a moron like you,” Belphegor taunted promptly in response, following after the mint-haired illusionist and out of the kitchen. 

You heard Fran remark mockingly, though again without any changes in inflection, “Ohh, Bel-sempai must be scared of me telling on him to Captain!”

“The prince is never scared of lowly commoners!”

Even after the doors shut behind them, you assumed that their banter continued, and you shook your head. At least they’d—hopefully—forgotten about you and left you in _relative_ peace after this encounter.

Swallowing the last of your breakfast, you collected yours—and unfortunately, Fran’s—dishes and deposited them in the sink. Upon turning back into the dining area of the kitchen, you stared at the chair you had been sitting at, and then you sighed. How were you supposed to repair that cushion, which was virtually ripped after you had to pull out Belphegor’s knives from it?

The man—the chef—saw your predicament, and he shook his head. “There are spare cushions in that cabinet over there.”

Your gaze snapped to the person who had addressed you, and you looked at where he was pointing to and then nodded. “Oh. Thanks.” 

After retrieving another cushion, you replaced the old one and discarded it before asking the chef, “Excuse me, do you know where I can find materials to repair the HQ’s walls outside? Captain Squalo is expecting me to fix it.”

“You’re a newbie, right? You got stuck with clean-up duty? That sucks.” The man shook his head. “Well, just head down to the garages, and you’ll find whatever you’re looking for there. You shouldn’t miss it. There’re crates of stuff just for repairing shit around here, you’ll see what I mean.”

“I was kinda the one who broke the wall to begin with, but…” Waving off his slightly apprehensive look, you then nodded your head and told him, “Anyway. Thanks.”

“Hn.”

You left the kitchen and checked your phone, and still seeing no new messages, you tucked the device away. While making your way to the garages, you didn’t come across anyone, which you didn’t find too strange. If everyone was as busy as Mauro had made them sound, then you wouldn’t be running into anyone idling around pointlessly.

With relative ease, you found the garages, and you were amazed by what was inside of them. There were a couple rows of black cars—similar to the Maserati in which you had been taken here—and then, what _really_ caught your interest was a line of motorcycles. Six of the impressive motorbikes gleamed conspicuously under the white light, and you marveled at their sleek and shiny looks. You wondered if they belonged to the elite; there was only one fewer than the number of core Varia members.

Looking away from the motorcycles, you decided to check around for the items you would need to repair the dent you had made in the wall. 

The chef had been right. There were a couple glaringly huge crates in the corner to your left, and you started towards them. You ended up digging around through their contents, and after more intensive prying, you found what you needed. What you did have to search around for, however, was a mode of transportation for all of the items. You had a good number of white bricks, a container of mortar, and a bag of masonry tools. Walking around the garage, you sought something to pile all of the materials in, and you sighed when there didn’t seem to be a wagon or wheelbarrow around. 

Eying the stack of supplies you needed to get outside, you slapped a hand against your forehead. Looks like you were doing more manual labor today. 

With a great sigh, you dumped all of the materials into an empty crate—much smaller than the others—and then picked the wooden box up. It was actually somewhat heavy, but with your training in mafia academy, this wasn’t too bad. You were glad that your school days were paying off here, somehow, at least.

You managed to heft the crate outside after leaving through the garage’s side door and then through a tunnel similar to the one you had gone through yesterday, upon arriving. Setting the box down next to the damaged area of the wall, you let out a relieved exhale. “Whew.”

As you assessed what your first step should be in tacking this problem, you pulled out all of the supplies you had gathered. Maybe you should remove the broken pieces of brick still lingering in the wall. 

“Uh, just how the hell do I fix this though?” you questioned skeptically out loud, realizing that you had been foolish enough to head outdoors without any extensive, previous knowledge of refurbishing the stone. 

You stared at the bucket of mortar and bag of tools in your hands.

“I’m supposed to be an assassin, not a mason,” you thought a bit sourly. “I am not cut out for this job.” 

Searching through the various repair instruments in the sack you had, you examined the chisel and the small hammer—its head just a simple cylinder—that were inside. It was a given that a tool such as a chisel was used for wedging things out of place, and a hammer—well, of course, you knew the functions of that as well. 

“Common sense,” you said in your head, as you decided to test your luck and try out what you thought was best. You had seen some masons fixing up the school campus before, so it’s not as if you were _completely_ lost on what to do.

It wasn’t easy though, and it took you around thirty minutes to dislodge all of the chips of the broken bricks out of the wall. (You had nearly sent rock bits flying into your eyes a couple times.) Another forty minutes later, you were finished with setting in the new bricks on top of and against the old ones. 

Your work didn’t exactly _look_ the prettiest—there were some obvious lumps of mortar here and there—but it was good enough. You were a bit skeptical about how adequate of a job you had done, but you couldn’t really do anything about it now.

“Well, whatever, if it falls apart later, I’m just gonna tell Captain that I’m supposed to be an assassin. I mean, come on. This looks pretty damn good for some amateur—not even—bricklayer,” you said to yourself, observing what you had pieced together. For the most part, the area you had repaired looked like the rest of the wall as much as it was. When you stood further back, you noticed that there were patches of the wall which bore similarities to your own. You wondered if other Varia members had had done repairs like your own. 

When you returned to the inside of the Varia’s Headquarters, you replaced the leftover bricks and materials you had used before heading back to your room. You had washed up a little, and then still finding that you had no assignments, you decided to check out the library. After all, you supposed that you were going to learn some Japanese then, thanks to the minor revelation you had when you were talking to Fran. It would be great if there were some reference books in the library, though you weren’t betting that there really would be. 

You were proven wrong, however.

Mixed in with a variety of other language books, which took up one row of the shelf itself, were some texts dedicated to studying Japanese. There was a dictionary and two others that you discovered were for sentence structure, particle usage, and important phrases. Even though there wasn’t much, you were glad that there were some resources to get you started off. You cradled the three books in the crook of one of your arms and hoped that no one would need them anytime soon. After weaving through the aisles created by the few other shelves in the room, you found one more Japanese reference book tucked in between some other volumes about the history of the Italian mafia. You picked that one up as well and then leaving the room, you checked the time on the ornate grandfather clock hanging near the door. 

It was only around ten-forty, and you smiled. You could read up for now and then get some training in later. In actuality, you were very excited to test out some new moves with your Lightning Flames, and making sure that your skills only got better was a must.

You were walking down the hall to your room when another Varia member, a man with light brown hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion made eye contact with you. Hesitantly, you slowed your step, and you tilted your head to the side slightly when he stopped in front of you.

“Is there something you need?” you questioned politely, pressing your books to your hip.

The man nodded. “If you’re [Name], that is.”

“Yeah. That’s me.” Maybe you’d be given your first real mission?

“You’re supposed to go to the Boss’s office. Captain Squalo’s orders,” relayed the brunette, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “Don’t get lost. His is the one with the lions.”

You noted his relatively vague description of Xanxus’s office and wondered what he meant by “lions.” Not living, right? Regardless, you gave him your thanks. The two of you nodded at one another, and then you left to put your books in your room and then head to where your boss was working.

Did he directly give out missions? Maybe you’d be getting one of your own now? Anxiety filled your mind, and you couldn’t help feeling somewhat eager to find out what your possible assignment might be.

You followed Mauro’s directions from yesterday, and you started towards the eastern half of the first floor. The Headquarters seemed so quiet that you felt a tad intimidated, pacing towards your boss’s office alone. There was a blatant difference in the décor around the elite’s section of the building. More elaborate designs traced the ceiling and floor, and you knew you were drawing nearer to your destination. 

There was no way you could overlook it. At the end of the hall, there was a pair of heavy, grand double doors made of magnificently polished wood, and in the middle of each one, was an elaborately carved lion’s head. A ring was held in the mouths of both lions, and their eyes, glossed over with a coating of lacquer, appeared to be inspecting you judiciously. 

_That’s_ what that Varia member had meant when he had mentioned “lions.”

You suddenly felt an inkling of apprehension prodding at your conscience, and you frowned at yourself. There was no reason to worry; if you didn’t do anything foolish, your boss wouldn’t be angered by you.

Suddenly, a shout, which was still rather loud despite being from inside the room, reached your ears. The voice was distinctly identifiable, and it seemed that Squalo was yelling at Xanxus, who wasn’t answering, from what you perceived. You wondered if you should wait until the swordsman walked out before for you knocked, but you decided against it. When there was a pause in Squalo’s uproar—which had been about Xanxus’s being a “shitty boss as usual”—you rapped your knuckles against the door rather loudly and stood back.

You didn’t anticipate for Squalo to bustle out of the office after opening one of the doors so violently that it crashed against the wall.

“Yeesh,” you muttered under your breath, glancing shortly at the white-haired man who had exited the office. He was growling out an impressive number of expletives. 

However, you also weren’t expecting—that upon turning back to Xanxus—to find a wine glass, still containing some of the alcoholic beverage, soaring through the air. 

In your direction.

You instantly responded, battle senses kicking in without a second wasted. All in a single, fluid motion, you drew one of your cinquedeas to slash the glass down. Just before you slammed the flat of your blade against the glass, you shut your eyes. Naturally, the cup shattered upon impact, spraying your hair and face in a light shower of wine and miniscule fragments of the sharp, transparent material. The various glass shards and most of the drink fell to the glossy, checkered tiles of the office’s floor. Due to habit, you jumped backwards about half a meter and almost out of the room.

As you opened your eyes carefully, your heart was still beating a little faster than normal, and you shook yourself off briefly. It was when you were watching a pool of wine sluggishly start to spread towards your feet, did you realize what had happened.

“And who the fuck do you think _you_ are, trash? That shitty shark’s personal bodyguard?”

Xanxus’s gruff question caught your attention; this was the first time you had actually heard him speak. For some reason, the roughness of his voice didn’t surprise you, but the subtle, disapproving edge to his tone did as you slowly processed that your boss was talking to _you_. You didn’t honestly understand what he meant by the latter statement, because, hadn’t that glass been heading your way, after all? Unless, he had really meant to hit _Squalo_ , and that this was just the norm for the both of them, on top of the yelling and regular fights with the other elite. You raised your head to meet Xanxus’s crimson eyes, narrowed at you in a clearly unimpressed expression.

Training his gaze onto your face, Xanxus merely stared at you, and you bravely returned the look as well, [e/c] meeting red. While others would see your actions as too bold for your position and an invitation for a possible beating, you didn’t find anything wrong about asserting yourself. To glance away would mean that you were scared, and to some extent, you were, but how were you supposed to live here, cowering around your boss every time you saw him? Besides, with the way he held himself—fist pressed against his cheek in a blasé manner and ruby eyes slightly narrowed—you could tell he was regarding you carefully. It was almost as if he was assessing you.

You sheathed your cinquedea and spoke up first, without breaking eye contact. “I’m not his bodyguard.”

Xanxus’s stare intensified for a second, and then he snorted before looking back down at his work. “Keh. Don’t get in the way next time, trash.”

As you didn’t have a response for that, you were thankful for when Squalo made his presence known once again.

“VOOOIII! That Lightning brat isn’t my damn personal bodyguard! Like hell I would need one anyway!” intensely protested the Varia’s second-in-command, whom you supposed had still been behind you when this whole ordeal had happened.

You stepped a couple paces back into Xanxus’s office and then looked at Squalo, who was seething at the doorway. Returning your attention to your boss, you pronounced warily, “So, I got called here… for what, exactly?”

The white-haired man seemed to have calmed down—since, at least, he hadn’t been knocked in the head with a wine glass—and he answered you, “This.”

Turning slightly towards the swordsman, you saw him fling a tiny object towards you. It flashed momentarily, and then you caught it with ease. 

A ring.

You let it rest on the palm of your right hand, and then you briefly examined it. The ring, made of a shiny black metal had a simple design, and a cameo of the word “VARIA” was etched along the band. A fairly large, rectangular emerald [3] sat on top of it, and you supposed that it was supposed to reflect the same color of your flames.

“You want me to light it?” When Squalo grunted out an affirmative, you slid the ring onto one of your middle fingers. 

Without any hesitation, you brought your flames to life, and they sparked dangerously. In a few moments, however, your hand began to shake, and you had barely any time to recount when this had last happened to you—back in mafia school—before the band on your finger snapped. It was as if it had self-destructed, and you were left with the crushed pieces of the metal and stone while your flames simply continued to engulf your hand.

Xanxus’s eyes watched your flames carefully. So you didn’t necessarily need a ring to use them… Interesting. Did you fight with your bare hands, coupled with your Lightning Flames, then? 

“Not a C-rank, for sure,” confirmed Squalo, seeing the ruined bits of the ring tumbling from your palm to the ground. He tossed another one at you, and you snatched it out of the air effortlessly. 

Replacing it where the old one had rested, you channeled your flames through this new, practically identical ring. When your Lightning Flames began to crackle a bit more restlessly, you knew what was coming, and you braced your hand, muscles tensing. Barely a couple seconds had passed before this ring had been reduced to dust in a burst of your flames, just like the previous. 

You were actually very curious about what Squalo and Xanxus wanted from you by making you try on these different rings. Of course, it was obvious that it had something to do with the rank of your flames, but you wished that they would explain more to you. You supposed that that just wasn’t the Varia’s style.

 _“She’s not a B-rank either…”_ The Sword Emperor threw a third ring towards you, and you repeated the same process again, observing how your flames remained steady this time. Even after a good thirty seconds, the ring stayed intact.

A smirk was on Squalo’s face when he let out a quiet scoff. “Vooiii… An A-rank…”

You didn’t remember having been able to light a ring of that caliber at your mafia academy. Then again, you were in the Varia now, and in just the past two days, you supposed that your resolve had been changing subconsciously and growing stronger as you were finding that you had a lot more to demonstrate about yourself. Perhaps you really were improving, without truly knowing it.

Xanxus and Squalo looked at one another, and there was a mutual understanding between them that you didn’t see. [4]

The latter addressed you with finality, “Keep that thing.”

In quick, controlled manner, you let your flames hiss and then disappear before pocketing the ring. “Okay.” 

“If that busts, get more from Lussuria. He’s in charge of ring storage,” stated Squalo informatively, and when you nodded, he pointed a finger at the mess on the floor of Xanxus’s office. “And clean up that shit, too.”

You frowned. 

“I should have let that glass hit your head. At least then I would have less to clean,” you regretted almost inaudibly, but regardless, both men in the room heard your remark. You snagged a roll of paper towels—you guessed that people were prepared for the breaking of Xanxus’s wine glasses and ensuing spills—that had been sitting on one of the shelves in Xanxus’s office, and you started cleaning.

The recipient of your good wish scowled at you while your boss lifted a brow at your fairly ill-willed statement. _“Damn right.”_

Despite retaining his apathetic appearance, Xanxus found your speed and response time satisfying. He hadn’t expected that you would end up in his glass’s line of fire, because he really had intended to hit Squalo. You had reacted well, and you were confident, but not overtly irritable about it. Xanxus could tell what kind of person you were; you were sharp, but quiet, and you were bold when you had to be. Refusing to avert your eyes when he had turned on you with his natural, pointed gaze, you hadn’t even backed down from his challenge. He was well-aware that his idiotic second-in-command was the only one who never withered under that stare. 

And your flames—with an A-rank ring, huh?

Interesting. 

You weren’t bad, Xanxus admitted.

Not bad at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: Fran is speaking in Italian to the reader (everyone has been speaking Italian so far, but that’s gonna change when Japanese has to be learned heh), but he still addresses Belphegor as “Bel-sempai.” Because it would feel strange if Fran ever called Belphegor just “Bel.” (And considering how Fran uses random Anglicisms when he speaks Japanese, I thought that maybe he would do something similar when he speaks Italian and uses Japanese words.)
> 
> [2]: I’m not sure when Fran would ever join the Varia in the current time of the KHR manga? Maybe after training more with Mukuro?? And he’d then train with Mammon in the Varia?? (Also I’m not sure what his age really would be—because idk how old he was when he was a kid in the manga—so I’m just going to assume he’s 17.)
> 
> [3]: Not a Varia ring. But I was thinking of a ring like TYL!Hibari’s (the ones he uses constantly against Gamma) that’s A-rank.
> 
> [4]: They know there’s a lot more to the reader than she even knows. development !!


	8. A Step into the Murky Depths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Name] finds that Lussuria is interesting, and he surprises her with the amount of knowledge he has about her fight with Squalo. With that battle in mind, [Name] prepares herself to train, both physically and mentally, but she comes across some other Varia members along the way.

After the incident with testing out the rings, you had been dismissed by Squalo and left your boss’s office. You had decided that you would seek out Lussuria and pick up some spare rings to replace your current one if it ever sustained any damage. It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple in the backseat, and you always liked being prepared, as best as you could be and ready for the worst-case scenario. Even though you were able to channel your flames with just your bare hands, you still preferred having one on you. You’d been thinking about dedicating time to improve some of those techniques—actually, there was one in particular you had been itching to polish up—without the use of a ring. Most people required a ring to adequately call upon their flames, so you prided yourself on being able to do so without one. From the moment you could do so, you had recognized that your Lightning Flames were advantageous for their various capabilities, and you had planned to incorporate them in your fighting style. Only thing was that sometimes, if your concentration wasn’t fully there, you would lose control of your flames, and that was an issue in which you were highly devoted to amending.

You reminded yourself, again, that having a firm rein over your emotions and focus was painstakingly crucial for survival in the Mafia World.

 _“If you cannot center yourself, you will find that you are lost. And, unfortunately, to be lost in a world such as the one of the mafia, is quite life-threatening.”_ Years ago, one of your combat training instructors—you’d forever remember her, with peculiarly purple hair that bordered black and gray eyes that had always been narrowed in subtle, calculating scrutiny—had advised you and your fellow students with those words. Her statements continued to stick with you, and even now, in moments of the peace you had, they constantly echoed in your mind.

_“I do not have time to and will not euphemize things for you. It’s simple. You’ll die.”_

When you had snapped the door shut to Xanxus’s workroom, Squalo waited a few moments to reassure himself that you had left their general vicinity. He presumed that you weren’t tactless enough to stand by and eavesdrop, but he still wanted to be sure. After a good thirty seconds, the Varia’s second-in-command glanced at his boss and commented somewhat musingly, “That Lightning brat could be something else if she knows how to use those flames with her bare hands.”

Xanxus scoffed and turned his head to shoot the white-haired man a look out of the corners of his eyes.

He knew Squalo was not stupid (though he really did like to believe that his subordinate was absolutely idiotic in a majority of instances). There were clear possibilities for you and your flames that both he and the Sword Emperor could easily recognize.

“Has the making for it.” Squalo could tell that not investing a Varia member’s time in observing your flames’ development would be a dire mistake. With an impressively refined intuition of a top swordsman, the Strategy Captain had sensed that your potential was dormant, waiting to be unleashed at the right moment and then persistently reworked. Even if you weren’t aware of it, there was evidence that you had the correct mindset for handling such growth. It was obvious you were motivated and dedicated to bettering yourself.

 _That_ , Squalo could relate to, he would admit to no one else besides himself.

Squalo understood that his boss was never a person to talk much; after all, no one had really held a conversation with him—besides Levi, supposedly, and Squalo found himself doubting that allegation. With that in consideration, the Varia’s Rain Guardian furthered, albeit a tad aversely, “I’ll see what the hell the Lightning brat can do if I can get that idiot Levi to train with her a bit.”

Crossing his arms, the Varia’s second-in-command remarked derisively, “Maybe that dumbass can do something useful for once, and tell us something about her flame control.”

As Squalo let his proposition hang in the air for a moment, he dropped his hands to his sides and then held back a snort at his boss’s answer.

“I’m the one who decides if that brat is good enough or not,” Xanxus stated with an unwavering conclusiveness, crimson hues still scanning over the text in front of him. 

“As if I didn’t know that already.” Squalo barely smirked as he walked out of the office. Of course, Xanxus was picky about who his successor would be, and if he did initiate any training with you, he’d break you, or you would be strong enough to retaliate. However, you’d have to make it past the expectations Squalo and the other Varia elite had for you as well, once they’d realized who you had a chance of becoming.

* * *

“Excuse me,” you called out while knocking a fist against Lussuria’s office’s door, which had been slightly ajar.

“Yeees? Come in, come in!”

You walked inside and spotted the Varia’s Sun Guardian swiping a duster over a couple rows of files stashed on a bookshelf in the back corner of the room. Setting down the feathery cleaning tool, Lussuria turned to you and questioned amiably, “Is there something I can do for you today, [Name]?”

He was surprisingly nice, in comparison to Squalo and Xanxus. You felt that that was one of the first times you’d been genuinely called by your name in the Varia.

“I was wondering if you could give me some A-rank Lightning class rings,” you informed him, pointing at the band on your finger. “Captain Squalo gave me my first one today, and I thought it would be helpful to have some spares.”

“Of course! Ahh, how marvelous! You’re an A-rank! Hmm, let me see here…” Lussuria crossed the room to another shelf where a safe sat, and he pressed a hand to his cheek while he thought. “Aha! This is it!”

Flicking the dial on the safe back and forth a few times, the man unbolted the metal box and peered inside its confines. With a friendly grin, Lussuria motioned for you to approach him, and you made your way to his position. He pointed a finger at the various rings sitting inside of the safe, each in their designated locations and marked with labels of their rank and attribute. 

“It’s neat,” you complimented, and the practitioner of Muay Thai agreed ecstatically.

“It must be! It would be an absolute _disaster_ if one of the others managed the rings,” emphasized Lussuria, aghast as he thought about the possible mess. “They would be completely hideous! It took our previous jewel designer _ages_ to give the first Varia rings a proper look. I had to reject him one hundred times, can you believe it?”  [1]

You allowed a small smile to form on your face. This man indeed had personality, and you found yourself intrigued by him. “I think I can. So is this the design you settled on?” You pointed at the ring on his finger.

Dramatically, he flicked his right hand forward, his Varia ring gleaming on his middle finger. You definitely thought that it was rather impressive, with its bold appearance—“VARIA” engraved across a silvery ribbon of metal on top of a glistening, yellow stone beset in the band. 

“Oh no, no. This ring was designed by Talbot, if you’ve ever heard of him,” answered Lussuria in the negative, “the Vongola’s most prided craftsman. I personally don’t _agree with_ the design, but we were pressed for time when we had him create these rings, so I didn’t have my say in what they should look like. Such a shame!”  [2]

“I’ve heard of him.” To you, Lussuria was very interesting. The way he recounted things was full of energy and character.

He grabbed some rings from the safe and the nudged you with an elbow. “And of course, considering how stingy Mammon can be sometimes and how he’s in charge of our fundings, we haven’t gotten the design changed since. It’s soooo upsetting! I’ve been dealing with how the yellow—it really should be a dashing shade of gold, don’t you think?—and silver just _clash_ with each other for ten years!”

“So I’ve also heard. It’s too bad that he’s pretty set on saving money,” you replied, a hint of amusement in your voice. You wouldn’t be taking Mammon’s parsimony lightly after hearing the same about him from Mauro and Lussuria now. 

“He wouldn’t even invest in getting prettier rings for you all!” complained the Varia’s Sun Guardian, passing you the rings he had picked up. “They’re so clunky.”

You chuckled and accepted them. “I’m fine with it. As long as they work.” 

“Well, I do hope that you won’t be running into any problems with them. If you do, just remember to stop by here again!” Lussuria patted you on the head as you pocketed the rings.

“Yup, thanks.”

Just before you had walked five steps away from him, Lussuria let out a light gasp—almost as if he recalled something important—and addressed you, “Oh, could you hold up for a moment?”

Rounding on your heels to turn back to him, you blinked and said, “Yeah, sure. Something you need?”

His request surprised you. “May I see your hands, dear?”

“Uh, I guess.” Brows furrowing, you extended your arms towards him, and behind his opaque sun glasses, he seemed to be studying your hands with a critical eye. Lussuria reached out and poked an index finger against your knuckles curiously before humming thoughtfully. He stood back for a second, and then he nodded his head as if he were confirming something he’d been dwelling over for a while.

“Would you mind punching me?” Lussuria held one of his own gloved hands up, and a delighted smile formed on his face.

You were bewildered, and you didn’t bother to conceal your shock. One of the Varia’s executives was asking you to punch him… You didn’t think that you’d be getting into a skirmish with any of them this early. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, I don’t mean my face or anything like _that_ —that would be horrible for my skin, but then again, I could heal myself right up… Ah, but anyway!” Lussuria seemed to notice he was getting sidetracked, and he repeated to clarify, “Punching me as in punching my hand.”

You decided that since he was asking you, and since there didn’t seem to be too much harm in it, you would comply. Maybe he was going to give you some pointers. “Okay.”

“Wonderful!” He held up his hand in front of him, and you widened your stance, your knees slightly bent. Eyes set on your target, you exhaled softly, and then, without waiting for any signals, you lashed out, your fist slamming into his palm in seconds flat. 

Right after the punch, you didn’t expect him to start clapping his hands and then gushing about how he knew “It had been you.” Really, you were just incredibly confused.

Lussuria proudly announced with complete certainty, “Mmhmm, this settles it! I just knew that you were the one who gave our Squ that nasty bruise! Wouldn’t you know it! You were hiding quite a punch, weren’t you?”

Registering that “Squ” referred to Squalo, you stared at him suspiciously, eyes widening. You didn’t think that Lussuria would know about your fight with Squalo, let alone that you were the one who had managed to land a decent punch on him as well. “How did—”

“Ohoho, it was really nothing at all,” giggled Lussuria cheerily, entertained by your astounded countenance. “I was the one who had to patch up Squ’s pretty face, since after all, I am our Sun. You wouldn’t believe how reluctant he was to have me do so, though, my my! He came back completely angry—oh, I wouldn’t be surprised if his blood pressure just _rocketed_ —and I was getting curious about who had managed to get a hit on him. Aren’t you a promising one!” 

Genuinely taken aback by his declaration, you retracted your hands and hesitantly mumbled, “Uh… Thanks? But how’d you know _I_ was the one who hit him? I don’t think he’d have told you.”

“Now that”—Lussuria placed his hands together and then laced his digits with one another—“is where my expertise comes in.”

You lifted a brow, and now fascinated by what he had to say, you suggested nonchalantly, “Let’s hear it.”

“Thank you~ I’d love to explain! Well, first off, just judging by the time that you arrived here, and the fact that _you’re here at all_ , I knew it had to be either you or your friend, Raimondo. And trust me, being in the line of martial arts and all—I fight with Muay Thai by the way—I know what kinds of damage that people’s fists can cause. Your casual punch is a backfist, as I’m sure you know what that is, right?”

You validated his assumption and told him that that punch required the largest two knuckles of your hand to connect with whatever at which you were aiming. It felt natural for you.

“Yes, yes! And I’d asked that Raimondo to do the same as you had, and it turns out he punches normally with a straight. Of course, you know as well that that uses four of your knuckles, and when I was looking at the bruise on Squ’s face, the color indicating the worst of the injury was somewhat small in comparison to if someone had hit him with a punch of all four knuckles. And seeing how you’re comfortable with using just two, I just _knew_ that you had to be the one!” [3] Reassured, Lussuria grinned. “There’s no doubt!”

Allowing yourself some moments to process his reasoning, you stood still, stunned by his ability to piece together what had happened. “Wow, that’s quite the insight.” 

“Oh, it was _really_ nothing.” Lussuria waved off your praise and laughed. “You’re an interesting one, I will say so! You’ve got a lot of ambition; I can see it right in your eyes, mmhmm!”

And Lussuria really could describe what he had seen in your eyes just in the time you had taken to gear up to deliver a punch. There was an undeniable aspect about your eyes; they flashed with a clear resolution which reiterated that no matter what you were up against, you’d find a way to better yourself as a result of it. That ambition was buried under a front of slight indifference, but once it was awoken, Lussuria could indisputably see the determination that manifested itself. Yes, he knew that that kind of stanch dedication had always been within you, but he could definitely comprehend it when you had readied your fists.

“Thank you?” The level at which he was able to _read_ you was almost aweing but at the same time, rather, unsettling. _This_ was the kind of sharpened perception that lurked among the members of the Varia, and you acknowledged that it was amazing, albeit frightening too.

“No problem at all, dear!” Lussuria tapped your nose and then sent you off. “I’m sure that you have lots of work to do as a new recruit, so I won’t stop you from going on your way!”

“Kinda.” It was mainly just self-assigned work, but you weren’t going to say anything. “Bye.”

Waving at you, the man returned your farewell, and you shut the door to his office upon leaving. You shook your head; that had been all very startling when you had thought that you would just be getting some rings. The Varia really was an odd place sometimes, but you had your own quirks too, so maybe you’d settle in fine.

When you were nearing your room, you saw Alinari walking closer to you from down the hall, and his gaze lightened when he noticed you.

“Hey, [Name]!” He jogged towards you and grinned, a stack of books tucked underneath one arm. “I was wondering if you wanted to train with me!”

“Hi, Alinari.” You then tilted your head to the side. “Um—”

Alinari cut you off to laugh, “You can call me by my first name, you know.”

“Ah, sorry. It was just out of habit. Sure. Hi, Raimondo,” you restarted, a smile curling on your lips. 

The brunette seemed happier, and he elaborated, “But anyway, it’s not really combat training… But it’s for languages! Captain Squalo came by earlier today, and he told me that I was supposed to learn Japanese for one of the four other languages that are required of us. I’m guessing that he told you the same thing?”

“No, but I thought that it would be helpful, since I ran into some another Varia member who was using Japanese terms and confusing me,” you explained with a shrug, the image of Fran’s impassive face popping up in your brain. “I guess we could practice together, if you’ve got some free time.”

“Yeah, I do! No assignments yet. So, anyway, I’ve got a few books that I scouted out in the library. Where do you want to work?” The brunette seemed honestly excited that you had agreed to study with him, and he was rocking on the balls of his feet.

“I’ve got some too.” You smiled and then proposed, “Let’s just go back to the library. It’s probably a lot quieter anyway, on that floor.”

Rolling his shoulders, Alinari agreed, and you gathered your own books before the two of you climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Just as the two of you were entering the library, Alinari brought up, “Did you notice that the phones that they gave us are always set to silent?”

“I was thinking about that too, and I was just guessing it’s because they don’t want them ringing on missions,” you responded, heading towards a table at the back of the room, “since we’re supposed to have them at all times.”

“That makes sense…”

Once you and Alinari had seated yourselves, you began flipping through your resources. You’d heard about the basics of Japanese a bit, and you knew that the language was comprised of characters—not letters. Those characters fell under three different categories, katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Most of the sounds in Japanese were made by a consonant followed by a vowel, though there were some exceptions.

“I really only know what they told us about Japanese from school,” disclosed Alinari, a sheepish look on his face. 

“Me too. I think we should start by learning hiragana and katakana, at least, right? So we can kinda sound out things. Kanji too, but that’s more difficult since there’s no set ‘alphabet’ for those characters, so to say. Kanji’s more reliant on roots…” you spoke, relaying whatever you knew about Japanese to him.

“Well, since you seem to know what you’re talking about, let’s do that.” Alinari chuckled, and he shuffled through a few blank pieces of paper. He handed one to you along with a pencil, and he opened one of the books to a chart of hiragana and katakana characters with stroke order.

You were only about ten characters in when you heard Alinari grumble, “They looked fun to write at the start…”

So far, you weren’t running into any problems with writing hiragana. Though the beauty of your characters was questionable, you thought they were pretty intelligible. When you stared over at Alinari’s, however, they were quite scribbly, and some of them were plainly giving him trouble.

“あ”—the character representing the sound for “a” in hiragana—looked pretty different than what it was supposed to be.

“Help,” Alinari wailed playfully, seeing that you were inspecting his paper. He waved around his pencil in an exaggerated fashion as he stared in awe at your characters. “Yours are prettier than mine.” 

A cheeky grin was on your face, but you stated as-a-matter-of-factly, “Huh. I guess so.”

“[Name]!” 

You laughed. “Yeah. I’ll try to help you.”

There was really only so much you could do to adjust Alinari’s characters to look more like actual katakana and hiragana as best you could. After going through all of them for a good hour, you were pleasantly surprised to see that Alinari’s hiragana and katakana were becoming more and more accurate. He’d insisted on writing each character fifty times, for starters. You always knew that he was someone who could easily adapt after little practice, but this was new. His Japanese looked much better than it did before, at least, to you.

“Looks like you don’t need my help anymore. Maybe we should try speaking now.”

When Alinari agreed, you read off a sentence in Japanese that introduced who you were, but immediately, you slapped a hand to your forehead. “I have such a heavy accent; you don’t need to tell me…”

The brunette gave you an apologetic smile. “I can guarantee I won’t sound much better, but I’ll go next anyway.” Alinari’s face scrunched up a little, his brows furrowing as he thought about the sounds that each of the characters—“僕はアリナリライモンドです”—written on his paper made. He read them out hesitantly. 

Before you could give him any feedback, Alinari folded onto the table and buried his face in the crook of one of his arms. His voice was stifled when he said miserably, “I didn’t even need to hear proper Japanese to know that that that was _horrible_.” 

“Hey, that was better than me. We’re doing what we can without a professional here,” you attempted to comfort him, reminding him that you didn’t have a speaker of fluent Japanese to ameliorate the situation right now.

There was a lapse of silence, and then the two of you collectively let out defeated sighs.

“I’m glad that we can sound horrible together, at least,” Alinari confessed, trying to be optimistic and raising his head.

“Me too.”

You both could only take a little more of practice before you thought that it would be better to stop the Japanese lessons for today. Perhaps you could get another Varia member to help you out later, but for now, you wanted to go practice in combat. When you’d each collected your supplies and walked back to your rooms, the same Varia member who had found you earlier that day—to tell you to go to Xanxus’s office—caught up with Alinari. 

Your companion was being ordered to report to Squalo, and before you knew it, Alinari was gone. Perhaps he was getting his own mission, but instead of feeling jealous, you recognized that you still had to brush up on some of your combat skills before you’d feel totally comfortable with receiving your first assignment. Contemplating that, you dropped your books back into your room and then started making your way to one of the training rooms on the second floor. While you were descending the stairs, you passed by two Varia members chatting with each other. They overlooked your presence and continued to head up to the third story without sparing you a glance.

“Yeah, missions have been pretty slow lately… The Boss is still really reluctant to accept the Tenth as the leader of the Vongola. And the Tenth hasn’t ordered for many assassinations, so we’re kinda stuck doing nothing here.”

“You’re right. It’s been weird. Just a couple days ago, Wekner came back totally beat up. I mean yeah, he said he got the job done, which he did, but he said people were waiting for him on the outside. That never happens.”

“Yeah. I even heard Strategy Captain Squalo complaining that people were getting more incompetent these days—like that’s the reason all this is happening. I don’t really think that’s it, though. There’s something up. It’s been happening too often, and if you’ve noticed, the frequency of our missions has even gone down too. Maybe Boss is taking precautions while he and the higher-ups figure out what’s going on.”

 _Mission frequency was down?_ Instantly enraptured by the rumors—you’d assume that they weren’t true for now, until you were informed honestly by a superior—you stopped on the stairs. You peeked over your shoulder, and in a split second, you decided to follow them. 

Maybe you could even give your stealth a little test, too.

You retraced your path up the stairs and then found the two Varia members still moving down the hall. Matching the pace of the blonde on the right, you began placing your feet down in accordance to when his hit the floor. Quietly, you drew nearer to them, your boots making no sound against the tiles at all. 

The brunette accompanying the man with golden locks tucked his hands into his pockets. “That’s true. It sounds damn stupid, but I have a hunch that someone is trying to target the whole Varia.”

 _What?_ You ceased in your steps, but then hurriedly resumed following them, in case they moved too far away. You needed to know more. 

“That’d be fucking crazy. But with all of this stuff going on, I would have to agree with you. This is the first time in a long while we’ve actually had to get new recruits around here. Can you believe someone killed two of our guys, and we haven’t figured out who the hell did it yet? I mean, no one gets the better of a Varia member that easily, but yet it’s happening.”

Just as you pressed the heel of your left foot against the ground, you heard the brunette speak, “Anyway, did you hear? We got two new ones just yesterday. Apparently Captain Squalo had them hand-picked.” [4]

“Damn, no way. But, now that you mention it, we did pass by some girl I’ve never seen before just a second ago…” 

Oops.

Out of instinct and identifying the lingering suggestion in his friend’s words that you still might be behind them—which, regrettably, you were—the brunette turned his head, and then he saw you, only a couple meters away.

“Looks like she was following us.”

Before they could ask you what you were doing, you told them frankly, “I was just interested in what you guys were talking about.”

As they were approaching you, the blonde laughed, his hands on his hips. “You’re a curious one, aren’t you, kid! You don’t have half-bad stealth skills if you’re sneaking up behind us!”

“Is it true, then, that someone’s targeting the Varia?” you queried, ignoring the previous remark. 

The brown-haired man leaned forward, using his height to try and intimidate you a bit. “Hell if I know it’s true. It’s just speculation, but if it’s real, then you’d better be ready to live up to Varia Quality, kid. I’m not going to go doubting if you’re all that or not, if Captain Squalo went out and actually sought you and whoever else just got recruited.

“Just know one thing, kid:”—his emerald eyes narrowed, and he regarded you carefully—“The Varia’s not a pretty place. You’re as good as dead if you slack off.”

You deadpanned at the man. While you would undoubtedly heed his instruction, you knew that you _weren’t_ someone who would shirk in your work. “So, you’re trying to threaten me.”

The brunette keeled over, arms winding over his stomach as laughter poured from his lips. “Well, obviously, even if you’re kinda young, you’re pretty tough if you’re spouting things like that. You’re confident, and that’s what you need to be in the Varia.”

“Anyway, like you said, I’m not going to slack off, since I’m going to train. So, sorry for interrupting your conversation, but I’ll be getting to where I have to be,” you said politely, though there was a slightly jabbing tone in your voice. You nodded your head to show him that you’d accepted his opinion of you, and you turned away. “Bye.”

“Wait up, maybe we could spar with you a little,” the blonde offered hopefully, “if you’re willing to.”

You stared at them for a second and then weighed your options. It couldn’t be too bad, right? Training with these two could prove to be for the better, so you didn’t shoot down the idea. “If you’re not busy, that’d be cool.”

The brunette rested an elbow on his companion’s shoulder, and then he grinned. When you observed them carefully, you could see they were pretty youthful themselves. “Awesome. My name’s Galea, and my friend here is Adstrum.”

“Heyoo! Yup, I’m Adstrum and twenty-three,” sang the blonde, giving you a small salute. You took the time to examine his appearance, his spiky dandelion locks pushed back by a basic gray headband, his skin pale, and his eyes a bright blue.

“Twenty-two,” Galea added on for himself. Your gaze flicked to him, and he passed a few tan fingers through his brown hair and winced when he pulled at a knot. 

“[Name], seventeen.” You walked ahead of them, already steering yourself towards the training rooms.

Adstrum whistled, and he set his hands behind his head. “Straight outta mafia high school.”

“So Captain Squalo really hunted you down?” inquired Galea inquisitively while the three of you sauntered down on of the second floor’s halls. 

“He asked me to join, so I did,” you affirmed, your expression indifferent.

“Whew, that’s impressive. Wonder what kind of skills you have, then, kid,” the younger of the males pondered out loud, his gaze settling on your form for a moment.

They didn’t bother to ask you more questions about that, and instead, they chose to let you show them—if you would—during this upcoming training.

The three of you selected the training room with an enormous black five painted on its steel door, and when it was heaved shut, you glanced at your surroundings. The room was huge, its silver walls stretching all around you for a hundred meters on each side. Besides you, Adstrum, and Galea, there was nothing else.

“Can we do some stretches first?” you asked, looking at Galea and Adstrum. You always did before any training, and even when you just wanted to calm down a little bit.

“‘Course.” Adstrum smiled. “Stretches are the basics.”

You each went at your own pace, and you recounted many of the stretches you’d done when you were in mafia school. Watching the other two Varia members, you’d even learned a couple new ones for your hips and calves. They’d also told you that the room’s walls were specially crafted to sustain damage from flames, and that they were a complex mix of concretes, with too many components to list.

 _“Perfect,”_ you thought.

“So you just want to practice to hand-to-hand combat for now?” questioned Galea, peering at you and then Adstrum.

“Ye—”

“One second, if you don’t mind, I want to try something out,” you interrupted, sliding off your ring and placing it in your pocket.

The two exchanged a glance, and then Adstrum nodded. “Go ahead.”

“You might want to stand pretty far back,” you recommended, rolling up the sleeve of your right arm. “Or you might want to leave the room, since this is the first time I’m going to try this.”

Galea leaned back against the wall near the door, and Adstrum followed as he asked, “So what are you going to do, exactly?”

“I’m going to do something with my flames,” you replied vaguely, flexing your right hand and swinging your arms. 

While you stood in the middle of the room, the blonde pointed out, “Don’t people usually use their rings for ring manipulation and the like?”

Exhaling almost silently, you left your arms at your sides and then closed your eyes. You started to center yourself, just as how your old professor had told you to do, and as always, you felt your senses clearing. In a moment, you steadied your breathing, and you raised your right hand again. You were aware of the soft beating of your heart, the nearly inaudible rustling of your jacket as you moved your arms. Remembering what your resolution was, you could feel the energy of your flames shooting to your fingers, and then your eyes snapped open just as the ominous crackling of your Lightning filled the air. The green flames danced across your right hand, and you held it out in front of you. Your fingers bent at the middle, and your flames pulsed across your fingertips.

“Well, guess I’m not like most other people then.”

Without warning, you thrust your arm downwards and focused your Lightning flames in the palm of your hand. 

_“Haah!”_

Lightning burst forth from your hand and shot ahead, hissing and snapping over the ground. Looking to electrify anything in their way, the pale jade sparks leapt in all forward directions from your being. They raced far in front of you climbed up the walls. As you raised your gaze from the floor, you kept your focus under check to make sure that your flames didn’t die out. 

But while you were concerned about being able to produce _enough_ flames, you began to pay less attention to just how much _more_ energy you were expelling.

You didn’t know what had happened, but suddenly, your right arm was wavering, and you had to stabilize it with your left hand. 

That wasn’t enough, and you weren’t sure what was going on afterwards. One second, you had everything under control, and the next…

Bolts of Lightning Flames were blasted from your hand, and you were thrown backwards by the shockwaves emitted. Suddenly as you were picking yourself up, your entire body was releasing the flames, and you were hastily trying to dispel the Lightning illuminating and attacking the room.

_“Stop, stop, stop…”_

Adstrum and Galea were in the room, and your flames were _everywhere_. You’d been trying to keep them channeled forward all this time so there wouldn’t be a risk of harming those two…  [5]

_“That’s enough!”_

You swept your right arm out to your side, and then, just like that, all your Lightning Flames disappeared instantly, fizzing out into thin air.

It was again quiet in the training room. Whipping around violently and with a horrible anxiety clawing into your conscience, you stared worriedly at where Galea and Adstrum had been standing. When you saw a mass of pearly blue and speckles of white surrounding the area they were at, your apprehension was chipped away at very slightly, but you still wanted to make sure they were unscathed.

“Holy shit, [Name], you’re something else.”

You breathed a sigh of relief as the shield of Rain Flames dispersed from around the two.

“I can totally see why Captain Squalo got you recruited here.” Adstrum was holding his hands up, close to his body, and he was nervously chuckling. “You were serious when you said you weren’t like other people and not using a ring.”

With wide eyes, Galea pronounced in admiration, “You’re like a mini prodigy.”

“I’m really sorry!” You hurried towards them and apologized, “Sorry, I really didn’t mean for that to go crazy and all, I just—”

“Are you kidding?” Galea gaped at you. “Your Lightning Flames stopped right before they hit Adstrum’s rain barrier! Even if that might have almost gotten us, I wouldn’t have passed up the chance to see this all up close! It was like a well-timed attack, I’m impressed!”

“No joke,” Adstrum agreed, shaking his head and giving you a thumbs-up. “I have to say, even though this was just an experiment for you, that was an insane amount of power you just let loose. I’m going to have to tell people not to mess with you, unless they wanted their asses fried.”

Despite hearing such words of respect from the pair, you knew better. Disappointingly, you had lost your handling of your Lightning at the end, and it was by sheer luck that you had managed to stop them before they had hit Adstrum’s flames. 

And the Varia didn’t operate in such an elite fashion by having _luck_.

_“Well, it’s obvious what I need to work on now.”_

You needed your flames to be controlled meticulously for your offensive techniques, and it was clear to you that that needed refining. And if someone foolishly was intending to destroy the Varia, then there was all the more of an incentive for you to improve and train more and more.

But there was also another thought on your mind which was driving you to improve. 

You wouldn’t let someone take _you_ out on your first mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for some reader offensive flames, right? That’s why I like Lightning Flames—that offense and defense. I feel like they’re underrated. . .  
> [1]: Apparently, according to the wiki, after Xanxus became Varia Boss, Lussuria rejected the designs for the Varia rings from their jewel designer, Totem Ross, one hundred times… I’m suspecting that those were the designs for the Varia rings from the future (because we never see Varia rings before the Future Arc). [2]: Also, because the rings that the Varia had in the Arcobaleno Arc are the “new” Varia rings which got upgraded by Talbot, I’m assuming that Lussuria probably didn’t have time to argue over a design he liked (considering that the battles were coming up and Mammon just wanted them upgraded ASAP—seeing how he spent his whole fortune on them).
> 
> [3]: I really don’t think Lussuria’s stupid. If he was really going to be the Varia’s next Strategy Captain in the case of Squalo dying, I think he’d have to be pretty intelligent. And I wanted to show that here, with some of his deduction skills and analysis.
> 
> [4]: I think that Squalo would be in charge of finding new recruits for the Varia since he’s basically its backbone. Though, I’d think that the typical process he’d take would be to have people apply to be in the Varia, and then he’d pick people. Not extend an invitation, like the Varia had done in Shamal’s case. That’s why the two Varia members are kind of harping on the fact that reader and Alinari were invited.
> 
> [5]: I think this is one of the instances in which I can see the reader as a boss. The ability to look out for others.  
> [[forgive me about the punching info—if it’s right or not—I had to research quite a bit about differences in punches and bruises…]] 
> 
> Also if you’re just thinking “why are all of the varia ‘grunts’ so nice to reader and not being assholes or whatever.” It’s again, because they know that they’re all “Varia Quality,” and that if they’re in the Varia, they’re in it together, and there’s a reason why they’re there. Back to what Mauro said. 
> 
> [[and if you’re also wondering why Adstrum and Galea weren’t freaked out by almost getting possibly killed. . . idk I think that Varia members would have steeled themselves, more or less, to that idea of death. and they were really interested by what the reader had to show, seeing as how she was asked to join the Varia.]]


	9. Sparks in Aqua

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader has some unexpected training ahead of her, but some very expected plans of attack.

Just as he’d promised—or really, simply told—his boss, Squalo sought out Levi to inform the lower-ranking officer about training you. And, just as the Strategy Captain had expected, Levi was adamantly stubborn about refusing to work with you. Typical behavior from Levi, Squalo grumbled in his mind; he was always such a pain to get to do anything if not ordered directly by Xanxus.

“I’m going to be busy,” Levi stated unconvincingly, refusing to turn around and look at Squalo, “since I have my own squadron to train, you know.”

“Well, you’re not busy right now,” observed Squalo, kicking Levi’s barstool quite menacingly and making the man seated upon it almost lose his balance, “so do what I fucking tell you to or I’ll make you regret it. And anyway, since when were you so hung up on training your own squad all of a sudden?”

The Varia’s Lightning Guardian, settling his chair back down after the attack it received from Squalo, had been about to retort spitefully to his comment. However, Levi withered a bit under the white-haired man’s intense glare, scowled at him, and then stated defiantly, “Fine. I’ll do it to get you to stop bothering me. Not because I actually _want_ to.”

“And I don’t care if you want to or not, I’m ordering you to train with the Lightning brat, and that’s what you’re going to fucking do,” Squalo snapped in response, upper lip curling back slightly in a snarl. When he saw that Levi remained silent in discontent, he smirked a bit triumphantly and ignored the grimace on Levi’s face. “Report back to me what you think of her flame control.”

“Tch.” Levi neither confirmed nor denied Squalo’s demand, and he dumped his coffee’s dregs into the sink over the counter and left the cup behind.

Rolling his eyes, Squalo told Levi further with an unabashed tone of exasperation, “Don’t go acting like this is such a damn big deal, anyway. I’m only ordering you to do this because you have Lightning Flames, like her. So shut up and stop complaining, trash.”

“I don’t see what’s so important about this damn brat…” With another huff, Levi stood up and shot the commander a glare before doing what was expected of him.

Shaking his head, Squalo shook his head with an irritated sigh and then took the exit opposite the one Levi had chosen. Squalo wasn’t going to reveal that he planned to test you extensively when it came to your flame control among other of your qualities in combat and having to do with intelligence. Really, all he needed from Levi was an additional preliminary look at what your skills were when dealing with your Lightning Flames. From Lightning user to Lightning user, that shouldn’t be so difficult, Squalo reckoned; he was hoping that Levi would have some useful insight on the matter. There was also another reason why Squalo needed to understand the most of your flame control—like he had with Alinari’s—but that information was all confidential as of now.

* * *

Chugging down a glass of water, you gratefully sank into the chair next to your desk and relaxed your tired limbs. Expelling that many Lightning Flames had somehow really taken a toll on your body, and to try and rejuvenate yourself a bit, you had eaten a small, very late lunch quietly in the presence of a couple other Varia members. They had ignored you for the most part, and once you had finished your meal, you had headed back to your room to rest for a little. You had kicked off your boots once you were inside your room and settled yourself comfortably on your chair, your head dropping onto your arms, which were folded on top of your desk. 

You let your eyes shut for a while, and you immersed yourself in the quiet atmosphere, your heart beating slowly and in a comforting rhythm. 

“You there, [First Name]?” The words were followed by a loud knock, and your eyes snapped open, but you didn’t move besides that, although you could feel your heart jump in your chest. Not reacting to something that scared you was important for Mafiosi, and you knew it was exceptionally fundamental for an assassin, who needed to be silent at all times on the job.

Rising from your chair, you walked towards your door and pulled it open. “Yeah. I’m here. Something you need?”

This time, the “messenger” was a man with a couple piercings in his lips and ears, his hair a deep shade of navy blue and the collar of his Varia jacket upturned. “You’re supposed to report to Senior Officer Levi. He’ll be waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs.”

“Okay, thanks.” You brushed by the man and shut the door to your room after shoving your feet into your boots. Too much was going on for you today… Was Varia life always this busy?

“He’s waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs,” informed the messenger, directing you in the opposite direction that he was heading.

You nodded and started towards where you were told to go, and once you made it to the second floor, you saw Levi—at least, who you supposed was the Senior Officer—and approached him.

His gaze flicked to you and then he grunted, “You that [Last Name] brat?”

“And I guess you’re Senior Officer Levi, then,” you answered just as pointedly, mimicking his disdainful stare, but restraining yourself from being too openly aggressive. 

“Tch. We’re going to train, brat. Don’t know why that idiot shark wants me to, but this seems pretty pointless.” The man with spiky hair and umbrellas strapped to his back headed forward, and you idled behind him for a second before rolling your eyes and following after him. You supposed that he meant “shark” as “Squalo” since that’s what the Sword Emperor’s name translated to.

He was rather… disagreeable, you admitted. You wondered how you were going to train with him, especially since he seemed like he had to see something “impressive” otherwise he would think you were useless. And considering that you already had released a great amount of Lightning Flames earlier in the day, you weren’t sure how powerful you could make your attacks.

You supposed you would find out, as you walked after the man, who still appeared bothered by having to train with you.

Indeed, Levi had protested and griped to Squalo about how it was _utterly ridiculous_ that he would have to train a newbie such as yourself, and he hated that he had to follow Squalo’s orders only because the shark outranked him. The Varia’s Lightning Guardian wasn’t going to admit that Xanxus probably agreed with the white-haired man’s directions, because he detested acknowledging that his Boss seemed to trust Squalo more. He was undeniably contemptuous about the amount of “control” that Xanxus appeared to give Squalo—if one looked past the glasses and flower vases that the Sword Emperor often had smashed over his head—when it came to commanding the other Varia members. Stalking forward and grumbling to himself, Levi muttered how annoying you probably were and how much he didn’t want to put up with you.

“Well, glad to be working with you too,” you returned under your breath a tad irritably, stuffing your hands into your pockets. You didn’t appreciate that this guy was sulking about having to train you when you hadn’t even requested for him to do so. It wasn’t that you weren’t _interested_ in training with an elite Varia member, you were just somewhat miffed by his uncooperative attitude.

Even if he had heard you or hadn’t, Levi turned around with a peeved expression to address you, “We’re here. Let’s see what you can do, brat.”

You’d never really thought much of the Varia’s top members’ calling you a “brat,” “trash,” and other synonyms of the latter, but you were getting a little tired of not being referred to by your name. Not like you had much say in what they were going to call you, you thought. Squalo, Levi, and especially Xanxus didn’t seem like people who would take kindly to your recommendation of using your name. Like all the times you’d been addressed as such before, you neglected to lash out and instead gave Levi a levelled stare.

For a second, he seemed a bit unnerved by your even visage, but then he just scoffed and pushed open the door to the training room.

“Well, the stupid idiot shark wanted me to see what you can do with your flames, so get going,” Levi informed you briskly while he tucked his arms under one another, the action flippant and prompting you to believe that he didn’t anticipate much from you at all.

“‘Stupid idiot shark,’” you mused quietly, “isn’t that redundant?”

This time, you were positive that Levi had heard you, your observation certainly confirmed when he spun around to snap at you with irritated words. “Shut up, you brat. You better be worth the time I’m using up here.” 

A crooked grin stretched across your lips, and you found your motivation to show him just what you were capable of doing with your flames’ strength. 

“Oh yeah. You’ll be sorry for underestimating me,” you pronounced carefully, emphasizing that you weren’t deterred by his taunts. You needed to show backbone in the Varia, and you’d make your firm stance known to Levi, at least.

“Yeah, right.” 

The moment the training room door clanged shut behind you, you evened your breathing and waited for what Levi had to tell you.

“Is there something specific you need me to do with my flames and that you’re looking for, or do you just want me to go all out or something?” you queried for clarification, holding your fists up.

“Just show me what you can do with your flames,” answered the Senior Officer, leaving his arms at his sides and refusing to adopt a combative disposition. You’d make him regret that.

When you lit your ring, you knew that your flames weren’t as powerful as they could have been, but it wasn’t as if you were going to let him know that. That probably was the result of your early training incident, and you thought to yourself, _“Well, I’ll only have to make them stronger now.”_

“Yeah? Well, get ready,” you warned, and with a focusing of your energy, you allowed your Lightning Flames to burst forth from your body. Running along the skin of your torso, arms, and legs, your flames danced menacingly around you, their volatility mirroring your anxiety to get start. Small sparks hopped from your body, and you felt a tad smug at seeing Levi’s expression change for just one moment.

It was a look of surprise, but he contained his reaction soon after.

Commanding your flames so that they move up to collect around just the both of your arms, you widened your stance and then bounced on the tips of your toes for a split second. 

Then, you dashed off, straight at Levi, a fist raised and aimed at his face.

He practically had no time to register what was going on before your fist was slamming against the palm he had raised to counter your strike. With his Lightning Flames, he had barely held off your attack. Levi winced slightly before scowling. You had purposefully hardened your flames around your fist to shatter any barriers he might have made with his own.

You had been feeling annoyed with his attitude. He wasn’t aware of it, but you also kind of wanted to punch him so that it would really hurt. You knew your Lightning Flames would do the job well. 

Levi gritted his teeth, pain searing through his right hand, which he had used to block your sudden attack. He hadn’t been expecting such a showing of force from _you_ , let alone the amount of flames you had dispelled. He felt somewhat irritated at the unexpectedness of your capabilities. 

“Not bad… brat,” he muttered just before you lifted your other fist to continue your offensive.

You said nothing, and instead of trying to punch him in the jaw, which he had thought you would do, you slammed your fist into his gut.

A choked expression crossed his face before he scowled at you and made a swipe at you with his free hand. You jumped back just in time and avoided it, but you were pretty sure that Levi was going to be rather incensed that you had injured him. On the other hand, you felt a surge of confidence. 

“You damn little—” Instantly, the man righted himself from the position he had been in, one knee on the ground and a hand pressed against the area where you had punched him. Once he stood up, you kept your distance from him, and you were fairly surprised when the eight umbrellas on his back flew from their original places and into the air.

They snapped open, and then besides just your own Lightning Flames flitting about the room, you saw the green bolts erupting from the various umbrellas rising towards the ceiling.

You hadn’t anticipated that he would be fighting with _umbrellas_ , which you didn’t see as physically dangerous, but perhaps, since they seemed to be channeling his flames, they were conducting the Lightning and magnifying its power. Caution would be your best friend right now, as you didn’t know what he could do. Anxiety began to prickle at your skin. Biting your lip, you considered that it would be rather perilous for you to take them head on, so you decided that the best way to handle them would be to destroy the umbrellas. At least that would stop the arc of Lightning Flames with which he seemed to be pinpointing you.

“Try and stop this, brat!” he haughtily challenged you, the umbrellas now circling over you. He yelled something that sounded like a combination of his name and then a word along the lines of “volt,” and you wondered if he had actually gone about naming his technique.

It was kind of dorky, to say the least, but you shrugged. However, you weren’t only shrugging off your irrelevant thought. You also were trying to quell the tingling uncertainty you felt.

You were a bit too preoccupied to really care about the name, and you readied yourself instead to unleash what you had been practicing earlier that day. Hopefully, you could get rid of those umbrellas.

Raising a hand so that your Lightning Flames concentrated around it, you curled your fingers slightly and let your flames coalesce near the center of your palm. They formed a crackling barrier over your hand, each of the bolts skittering over your skin and dancing around your arm. Experimentally, you flexed each of your fingers and then widened your stance, your dominant foot in front of the other. As Levi raised his arms, the action almost seeming as if he was commanding his flames towards you, you prepared yourself for the attack.

He looked condescending, his over-zealous expression telling you that he felt extremely self-assured now.

You, on the other hand, bit you lip again. The confidence you had felt when you had punched him had all but vanished now. The anxiety was back again.

The umbrellas stopped spinning and Lightning Flames gathered around each of them, their bolts growing more formidable by the second. Shoving aside your concerns again, you decided that you wouldn’t let him go on the offensive first. You had to be resilient. You had to be able to make bigger moves. You also had to be sure you could do it. With another burst of flames to your hand, you extended your arm forward in a pulse of the green electricity. The effect was colossal, and much greater than you had expected than last time. Just as it had happened before, you were thrown backward by the force of your flames shooting out of your hand, and your bottom slammed onto the concrete painfully. However, your flames ripped through the air. Stray bolts flew wildly in every direction, and many slammed into their targets—the umbrellas—and you wouldn’t put it past them to go racing towards Levi either. 

You weren’t sure what was going on exactly. You were confused, but you didn’t want to show it. Your mind was full of thoughts, your heart rate increasing dramatically. You could hear its loud thumping over the hissing of your flames. Though, you knew that your Lightning Flames had done damage, by the singed smell—of whatever umbrellas were made of—wafting through the air and black fabric falling around you. There was a shout of protest as you stood up, and incredible amount of pain coursed through your body. Your head ached, and you supposed that you really shouldn’t have gone around blasting so many flames around. You knew the fatigue that came along with overexerting yourself to materialize and harness flames since they were essentially your tangible wave energy. 

Meanwhile, as you recovered, you saw that Levi was fending off your untamed flames with his own, and you realized this could be your chance. You readied one of your fists again and then charged towards him as you mustered up all the energy you had left into one more attack. You could do this. Just as you approached him, you had leapt off the ground, your legs folded behind you and your dominant hand pulled back in a fist sparked with flames. 

Just as your attack was about to connect, Levi turned to you in surprise. The amount of expression in your face startled him. Rage? Anger? Resolution? He couldn’t pinpoint it. 

His shield of flames dissipated once he saw you tearing through the air towards him, and he hastily jumped out of the way. Using his better judgment, Levi decided he had better chances of avoiding your stray flames from your first attack than taking your punch head-on right now.

It wasn’t as if you could suddenly stop yourself after Levi had dodged your attack. Inertia was already carrying your body forward toward the ground. Closing your eyes, you braced yourself for the impact. 

Your fist slammed into the reinforced floor first, but thankfully you had hardened your Lightning Flames so that your hand wouldn’t be severely injured. Unfortunately, you hadn’t prepared for the intensity of the impact as your fist of lightning smashed into the concrete and ripped through it. 

Before you could comprehend what had really happened, you were suddenly being tossed backward again. You were trying to make sense of where your body was exactly, your brain attempting to process everything at once. Again, confusion took hold of you. Your eyes widened as you tried to look around and understand where you were precisely. _I going to hit the ground? How far up am I? How much time do I have before I just smack straight into the ground?_ You did know you were falling backside first, at least.

Then, you knew. Even though your vision was a bit blurry and air was loudly whirling around you, your intuition was guiding you. 

Instinctively, you faced your palms toward the floor, and Lightning Flames were bursting to life from your hands.

And then you were suddenly flying in a low-arching path. Then you were lying flat on the ground once again.

“Well, that fucking hurt,” you cursed, one knee pressed to the ground while you rested your chin on your other. With your head in immense pain, you gritted your teeth mentally congratulated yourself on probably giving yourself a concussion. [1]

Obviously disoriented, you tried to stabilize your breathing, but you couldn’t do much about the throbbing plaguing your forehead. 

“If you pass out, I’m not dealing with you anymore,” commented Levi. Exhausted, you could only perceive that he was standing somewhere to your left, since that was where you had heard his voice. 

Settling a hand against your head, you attempted to steady your feet and stand even though you were swiveling back and forth. “Yeah, yeah, give me a second. I’ll be fine. I’m just not used to expending this many flames in one day.” 

Before he could retort, you taunted, “But whatever, I feel like it would be better to pass out than have to deal with you.”

His eyebrow twitched at your caustic remark. Still holding up his unimpressed façade relatively well, Levi rolled his eyes at your statement. “Didn’t seem like that much.” He was lying; your flame potential was unusual, possibly extraordinary. It was frightening to imagine what you could possibly do with such an enormous possession of flames.

“Yeah, well, for your information, this wasn’t the only flame training that I did today.” There was no point behind his antagonistic nature, so if he was going to be like this—which was, so far, worse than Xanxus’s or Squalo’s attitude—then you would have no qualms in reciprocating the nasty behavior. Of course, all in a much more mannered way than him. 

After all, at least the Boss and his second-in-command hadn’t constantly been questioning your presence in the Varia. They’d given you some semblance—even if it was minimal and barely noticeable—of respect for you to be here. You were hoping. Maybe.

“As if I’m buying that,” you heard distantly.

You weren’t sure what your sarcastic retort would have been as you felt yourself falling forward again, and then, nothing.

* * *

“You look like shit,” remarked Squalo offhandedly, a mocking smirk tugging at his lips. He had made an effort for his smugness to be blatant, and the Lightning Guardian didn’t appreciate that the swordsman seemed to be getting a kick out of his rather singed appearance. 

“Shut the hell up,” snapped Levi irritably. “You weren’t the one who was dealing with that brat.”

Squalo snorted. “Maybe that brat’s not so bad if you look like you’ve been fried.”

“Fuck off.”

In response, Squalo flipped off Levi, who was bristling with anger, before asking, “What was the magnitude of her flames?”

Levi seemed reluctant to admit anything, but shrinking under Squalo’s punitive scowl, the older male threw out an estimate. “I don’t know. It’s not your average or just above it, I guess. I’d say that she’d used almost near a million Fiamma Volts. She managed to make a crater of a hole in the reinforced floor, though.” [2]

Raising his eyebrows, the Varia’s second-in-command tilted his head to the side slightly. You’d made a _crater_ in the flame-resistant, Lightning Flame-reinforced floor?  [3] He resumed a look of apathy after the split second in which he had expressed his surprise. “Interesting. What about her flame control?”

“It’s not all that great, but it’s not fucking terrible,” answered Levi with a shrug. “I’d say she can handle flames in smaller quantities fine, but it’s when she starts testing out new stuff with a lot more flames that she loses control. I think she was… experimenting with some new technique during our fight.”

“Voii…” Intrigued, the Sword Emperor crossed his arms. He wasn’t too thrilled about your fainting; however, he still wanted to find out more. “What do you know about it?”

Shaking his head, Levi wondered why Squalo cared so much about your abilities. “How the hell should I know? She just gathers all these flames at one of her hands and then the next thing that happens is it’s all berserk.”

Squalo pondered over Levi’s assessment. So, you had known you were going up against someone of the Varia elite, but you still had decided to take risks and experiment, huh? Squalo hadn’t seen you fight Levi, but he had an inkling of a feeling that you had taken some. Perhaps, you hadn’t been taking an impulsive risk, but you had evaluated your circumstances and strengths to weigh probabilities of success and failure against one another. And it seemed your calculations of success hadn’t been wrong, with whatever you had wanted to pull off. Judging by Levi’s scorched look, Squalo would say that you had done quite a bit of damage, maybe not pulling off exactly what you had wanted, but you had achieved a fraction of your intended result.

As his boss seemed to have no flame control to an uneducated outsider, Squalo thought of Xanxus for a moment. Xanxus surely could handle his flames, otherwise he wouldn’t be the Varia’s boss. The white-haired swordsman had observed that his petulant boss selectively lacked flame control at some moments. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t effectively manipulate the flames that he purposefully let loose around the mansion in one of his fits; he just liked to cause brazen pandemonium sometimes, especially when someone had pissed him off. The Varia’s Rain Guardian rolled his eyes. Yeah, and _he_ was the one who had to clean up his boss’s mess.

Though, if you lacked flame control because you hadn’t developed it well yet, then that was an issue. He didn’t care if you had power; if it was simply raw and uncontrolled, then it wouldn’t do you much good.

Subconsciously, Squalo’s brows pinched together. He was now weighing _his_ options. After some deliberation, he supposed that it was your turn to be trained by him now. [4]

Squalo knew though that Xanxus might, in the end, have to train you. Scratch that, he probably would, since you fought with flames and your bare hands. Xanxus knew how to control his flames to an exemplary extent so that he _could_ , but you needed some more work. Though, the Varia’s boss would only train you if he thought you were worthy, and Squalo was going to find out if you were.

“So where is the brat now?” the Sword Emperor queried, pushing his hair back out of his eyes. He was surprised that Levi had shut his mouth long enough for him to think about what his next course of action would be. Or maybe Squalo’s mind just worked quickly.

“In the infirmary.”

Squalo supposed he was headed there next.

* * *

“Ow.” You had just sat up, and as you had done so, pressed your hands against the mattress to lift yourself up. Your dominant hand seared with pain, and you remembered that you had punched the ground after Levi had dodged your attack.

Oh yeah, you had been training with Levi. Then somehow you had ended up with bandages covering your arms and neck as you sat on a bed. 

Wait, you were on a bed?

Looking around hastily, you grunted in pain when your neck let out a sharp crack. You decided to survey your surroundings a bit more carefully, and judging by the cabinets filled with medicine bottles and the white bed you were lying on, you were in an infirmary.

 _“Nice,”_ you thought grimly, laying back against the headboard.

As you just rested, your mind began to wander. What had happened during that fight? You tried to recall everything and made it back to the point when your fist had made contact with the floor.

“Even with Lightning Flames, I still didn’t account for the resistance that would be pushing back on my fist…” you murmured to yourself reprehensively. “I have to figure out how to fix that. Would moving the flame concentration at the point of impact change the—or maybe it’s the timing—” 

Your mind snapped to another thought, and you remembered trying to soften your fall by counteracting the gravity with the power of your own flames. That hadn’t really worked out as you had planned either. Immediately, you identified an issue and reprimanded yourself, “I totally screwed up. If I had just been more careful about the force at which I had propelled the flames out of my hands, I could have—”

You stopped once you saw a familiar figure in the doorway.

“Oh. Hello, Captain.” You hid your embarrassment of your battered state with a calm greeting.

Squalo had heard you mumbling about your possible plans for improvement before he had entered the room. He wasn’t sure what he thought of your ramblings, but he found himself not concerned all that much. If you were looking for ways to better yourself, then you should go right ahead. Perhaps others would call your musings to yourself a bit abnormal, but no one in the Varia could really be considered “normal.” And Squalo didn’t care. It didn’t matter if you had quirks if you could kill efficiently and on the level that a Varia assassin should.

“Voii, heard about your training.” The swordsman leaned against the wall next to the door frame. He seemed impassive toward your weary appearance.

Without hesitating, you replied evenly, “And you were the one who ordered my training with Levi, right?”

The white-haired swordsman glared at you, his arms crossed. “And?”

“The point of that was?” 

You weren’t offensively audacious, but cautiously bold. Squalo appreciated that, but that wasn’t going to make him explain anything to you yet. “Get better fast, trash.”

Definitely taken aback by his unexpected response, you blinked curiously. Did he mean that the point was for you to get better at fighting faster? Or was he telling you to address your injuries and get better physically quickly? Regardless, you answered confidently, “Yeah. I’m going to.”

“Keh.” There was a challenge in his scoff, and you met his unwavering stare with your own. He looked away. “You better be ready, brat. Things aren’t all that easy here.”

As Squalo turned to leave the room, your quick reply surprised him. “I know. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

If you had been standing in front of Squalo, you would have seen the amused smirk on his face. “You smug brat.” 

He supposed that wasn’t always a bad thing, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: So basically, after the reader punches the ground, the force from the impact causes her to go flying way up into the air. And during the seconds while she’s falling, her body kind of goes into panic mode since she knows she’s probably not going to be feeling too great (or she could die) after taking a fall like that. But intuition saves the day, kinda, when she instinctively starts trying to cushion or stop her fall by firing Lightning Flames towards the ground to sort of propel herself back upwards. Which would’ve worked if she hadn’t just shot out the flames and had more control of how her flames were being expelled, but since she’d already used up a lot of her energy, she didn’t have the strength for proper control at that moment. So she ended up firing off too many and too intensely and then the force of that accidentally flung her forward, and then she landed on the ground almost in a face-plant. (But at least it wasn’t from that high up anymore. She was about only ten feet/three meters in the air then.)
> 
> [2]: Since Tsuna and the other Guardians powered the Flame Teleportation System with 10 mil Fiamma Volts, that’s a little over 1.4 mil FV for one of them. Putting these numbers here as a reference when they’re discussing how many flames the reader used (for comparisons to gauge the reader’s flame potential which correlates to her will n’ other stuff)! I don’t really think it’d be out of the reader’s range, considering that it’s already clear she’s got a lot more to her than it seems.
> 
> [3]: Reader just busted through Lightning Flame-reinforced concrete! Which I’m assuming would be made of the same material of those buildings in the Choice Arc arena, that was said to be 20 times harder than normal buildings thanks to the flames (episode 169). That’s why Squalo’s a bit like ??? Really ??? Interesting.
> 
> [4]: Emphasis on this sentence because it connects to something else that you may or may not know ‼ Props to you if you know what it is because you pieced together stuff from previous chapters‼ And if not, then you’ll see! 
> 
> Also, Levi uses his named attacks on the reader because 1) Squalo’s ordered him to train her, so even if he doesn’t want to admit it, that means she has to be a relatively good fighter [maybe not one he wants to waste his time on, but he has to, so] and 2) he’s Varia and doesn’t honestly care if the reader can’t handle it. That means she wasn’t good enough. So in a sense, even if doesn’t want to admit this also, she’s earned the tiniest piece of his respect. Like other Varia members though, he won’t ever mention who he respects, so like the reader’s ever going to find out. With the Varia, I feel like there’s a lot more tacit and already understood agreements (or threats) among them anyway.
> 
> \+ Don’t get me wrong here, but no one in the Varia is being nice to the reader or anything. (Maybe besides Lussuria.) They’re all just treating her apathetically. Or not really caring. Idk people have a notion that the Varia would be super abusive and it always sucks to be a grunt in the Varia but I guess my take on them is that yes, they are violent and probably with subordinates (and it would be bad to be a grunt sometimes), but there’s a certain level of decency about them too. That might not be all that high of a level, but it’s still there. I guess I just don’t see them as some other people do?? Like cussing in every single sentence (yes, threatening to kill one another though), but not being over-the-top and exaggerated so much + being used for comedy a lot of the time?? Idk if I could have a serious story then.


End file.
